OLDtechnewTECH
by beautifulpreservation
Summary: What happens when new tech is assigned to advise old tech? This is a story that will attempt to explore that.
1. Chapter 1

It was Monday morning and all I wanted was coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. The last place I wanted to be was work, as I had been there all weekend. "Well you look like hell," I hear as I enter the lab. My head turns to the source of the comment. Alex, leaning against the table in front of her computer, was staring at me like I was a pageant contestant and she was the judge. "You still look cute, like always, but you look like hell."

"That's probably because I've been here all weekend and I may or may not have slept here," I say, walking towards her and my own computer bank on the other side of hers.

"I figured that," she says as I walk past her. "Which is why I got you a present-"

"You beautiful, beautiful pink haired soul," I say, spotting the large coffee sitting by my keyboard. "You truly are an angel sent from heaven."

"My mom would actually say a demon spat out by hell," she counters with a shrug. "But I'll take either. And you're welcome." I repeatedly thank her until the cup is touching my lips.

"It's like the nectar of the gods," I say, feeling the warm spreading through my chest and making me feel as if I was more awake than I really was.

"Speaking of which…do you think that real-God dude…Thor? Do you think they drink coffee? Is that where the phrase came from?" Tim, our other co-worker asks as he walks up to the desk. All three of our computers were grouped together on a large table. Together, we formed the New York division of S.H.I.E.L.D's security architects. In simpler terms, we built, rebuilt, and fixed the intelligence agency's security network and sometimes helped to break down other security networks, but that was under the table work. I also pulled some extra hours working in I.T., helping with general computer problems. I'm known as the "Tech Girl" around the facility; which meant I was called in on weekends and barely got any sleep.

"I highly doubt it," Alex says, running her fingers through her short, pink hair and making it stand straight up. "Don't they drink the blood of virgins or whatever?"

"Oh, you better watch out then Rhiannon," Tim shoots at me.

"You little jerk," I say, throwing the first pen I can reach at him. "You do not and will never know my sex life."

"That's because it's non-existent," Alex quips before taking a drink of her water. Alex vehemently refused to ingest artificial caffeine, but regularly kept a steady stream of coffee flowing for me.

"Now I get why your mom says you're a spawn from hell," I say, narrowing my eyes at her as I sit down in my chair.

"Your mom says you're a spawn from hell?" Tim says to Alex, placing a hand over his heart. "My mom says I'm an abomination."

"Well at least you all have parents," I say.

They both roll their eyes at me as they sit down at their work stations. "You may not have parents, but you had a Daddy Warbucks, which is so much better than parents that hate you." Tim says.

I roll my eyes now. "He wasn't a Da-"

"He was an old man who saw you were a computer genius, scooped you out of the orphanage, and then left all of his money to you." Alex says. "So Annie, I'm still waiting on you to by me a pair of Louboutin's."

I shake my head as I take another drink of coffee. "Okay you two, let's get to work." Neither one of them say anything else. Technically, I was their boss. But, we all worked as a team and with them both being older than me by a few years, I rarely pulled rank on them. "Also, since we're slow right now, I probably won't come in tomorrow. I need a day to catch up on stuff at home."

"I don't doubt it," a voice from the doorway says. All three of us turn to look at the source of it, seeing Maria Hill standing there. No one from the higher offices ever…and I mean ever, came down here. I think I had only seen her or Fury a handful of times myself in the year I had worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. All three of us stand up like we've been shocked. "Your time card says you've worked the past fourteen days straight. Plus, whatever extra work you've done for Romanov or Barton."

"Agent Hill," I say, walking around the desk towards her. "What brings you down here?"

It made me nervous she was down here…and watching my time card. "Director Fury requested to see you when you first got here." She says curtly, as if I should've known that.

"Oh, I haven't had time to check my messages. I just got here." I say. I look back at Tim and Alex, who both shake their heads. Neither of them had a message for me I guess.

"Regardless, I need for you to come with me." Hill says. She walks out of the office, not even giving me a chance to say anything. I lightly jog to catch up with her.

"What does Director Fury need to see me for?" I ask her.

"He'll tell you once he sees you," she says. "Don't worry, I don't think you're in any trouble."

"You don't 'think'?" I say with a laugh. She doesn't respond. In my opinion, the higher office people were way too serious. I think it was that skintight navy uniform they had to wear. In that moment, I was glad for my midi skirt with the skyline of Paris printed on it.

After a five minute walk, not exaggerating, we finally arrive at Fury's office. I walk in, without Hill, and wait by the door after it closes for Fury to address me. "Ms. Saggart, I see you got my message."

"I actually didn't," I say, stepping a couple steps closer to him. "Agent Hill came and got me."

Fury doesn't say anything until he finally turns around from the window he was looking out of. "I have an assignment for you."

I stare at the man, trying my hardest not to stare at his eye patch. "A-an assignment, sir?" I say, thoroughly confused. "I'm, I'm not an agent, sir. I work in-"

"I'm well aware of where you work," he says. "But your expertise is required for this assignment."

A million different scenarios were running through my head; me running through a jungle getting shot at, me hiding under a desk trying to crack a code while others around me were fighting. "What do you need me to do, sir?"

"I'm sure you're aware of the fact that Captain Steve Rogers was located last week." Fury says. He clasps his hands behind his back as he comes around his desk to stand in front of me. I was aware of Captain America being found.

"Yes sir," I answer him. "I was actually in lobby when he ran out." I leave out the part about him actually running into me and knocking me over. The bruise on my hip from the fall was finally disappearing.

Fury nods his head. "I want you to set him up with some technology, teach him how to use it."

"Sir-"

"You come highly recommended," he says, cutting me off and walking back to his desk. He holds up a file for a moment before dropping it again. "Agents Romanov and Barton both sing your praises. You practically live here, working all the time. Not to mention your record before you came to S.H.I.E.L.D.: early graduation from high school, early admittance to M.I.T. where you yet again graduated early with a master's degree. As I said, your expertise is needed for this."

I let out a quiet sigh. "Yes sir, I'd be happy to help out Captain Rogers." I couldn't turn down the assignment.

"Good," Fury says, as if surprised that I accepted. The sarcasm was evident in the word though. "You'll meet with him tomorrow-" I hold back a scream at having to give up my day off. "And then I want you to take the next two weeks off. You are sorely overdue for a vacation."

I hold back another sigh. "Yes sir."

"Hill will send you an email telling where you'll meet Captain Rogers tomorrow and what time," Fury says. I nod my head. "The tech will already be there. If there's any you recommend, just let Hill know and she'll make sure it's there."

"Okay," I say, nodding my head. "Anything else?"

"That'll be all," he says, dismissing me. As I walk out of the office, he throws me one more statement. "And good luck."


	2. Chapter 2

I stand in the conference room, nervously twisting my hands around. I was, as usual, fifteen minutes early. I was early for everything and for some reason, it slightly annoyed me when others weren't. It's a bad habit I'm working on. Anyways, I start pacing, to try to pass the time waiting for Captain America to show up so I can teach him to use a cell phone. When I really thought about it, the situation was actually pretty funny. I, Rhiannon Saggart, was assigned to teach Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, great war hero turned superhero-legend, how to text.

Thankfully, Hill had set the meeting up for mid-morning, so I was able to sleep in a little bit. About five minutes until our meeting was supposed to start, the door opens and in walks Steve Rogers, the man himself. "Captain Rogers," I say, walking up to him and extending a hand. "I'm Rhiannon Saggart."

"It's nice to meet you Ms. Saggart," he says. Once he releases my hand, his eyes narrow as he looks at me more closely. "You look familiar, but I don't think I've met you before…"

I shake my head, deciding not to tell him about our first unofficial meeting. "No, we haven't met. May have passed each other in the hall or something…"

He hums his response as he finally releases my hand. He really wasn't as big as I thought he would be. He was a big guy, of course, but not overly massive like the stories had said. "So, Director Fury said you are going to help me with some technology?"

"Yes," I say, clapping my hands together. "That is the goal for the day." I wave a hand, beckoning him to follow me to the other end of the long table in the middle of the room. "Let me just go ahead and say this," Once we each the end of the table, covered in the latest technology, I turn to face him again. "Technology these days, is always changing, always advancing. The stuff I show you today could very well be outdated next week. What I will show you is the basics of how to use it, that way when you do get new stuff, you'll be able to keep up. Now, have you used any of this stuff so far?"

Steve peers at the gadgets laying on the table. "I've seen others using them…but I've not yet used them."

"Alright, then we'll start with the very basics," I say, nodding my head. I grab the sleek phone, a newer model than my own off the table. "I tried to pick out pieces that would be user-friendly, but still have the latest tech in them."

"I'm a quick learner," he offers up.

"I figured you were," I say. Hill had mentioned it to me the day before in our emails back and forth. "I'm more worried about you being overwhelmed by it all."

He looks at me for a split second with a surprised look. A corner of his lips quirk up. "I'm sure I'll be okay."

"Well, on your exterior you will be anyways," I counter. "I was raised by a military man…I have a keen understanding of how y'all work."

"Your dad was military?"

I shake my head. "Long story. Short version, let's go with 'sure, yeah, he was.'" I say. "Anyways, you are stalling, so let's get started. This," I say, holding the phone up with one hand so he can see it properly. "Believe it or not, is a phone."

I had underestimated just how quick of a learner Steve would be. A couple hours after we started, he had a full understanding of how to use a cell phone, laptop, tablet, and the comms units that the teams used on missions. "Well Captain Rogers," I say, leaning back in my chair. "I'm afraid if I show you anymore, the pupil will surpass the teacher."

Steve lets out a single chuckle. "I highly doubt that," he says. "And you can call me Steve."

"Only if you call me Rhiannon," I say, flashing a quick smile at him. "Do you have any questions about anything?" Steve shakes his head. "Are you sure?" I prod.

"Yes, ma'am," he says with a small chuckle. "I'm sure."

"Alright," I say. As I told him, I grew up with a military guy, they weren't quick to admit, especially to women, when they didn't understand something they were just taught. "If you run into a problem, I put my phone number in your phone. Call me if anything breaks or you don't know how to do something, okay?"

Steve nods his head, picking up with phone. "Yes ma'am."

As we both stand from our chairs, I stand gathering up his new tech. "Remember, don't spill any food or liquid on these, especially if you don't have a case on them." I put the laptop and tablet into a case for him to carry. "Try not to drop them either. They may not break, necessarily, but it could damage them."

"Okay," Steve says, taking the case from me.

"And, as I said, if you have any questions or run into any problems, just call me," I pick up my own bag, letting it dangle in the crook of my elbow. "Okay?"

"Understood," he says. I couldn't tell if he was slightly mocking me or not, but I picked up that tone from him.

"Hey, I'm a natural worrier, I can't help it." I say. "Anyways, it was nice meeting you Steve."

"You as well, Rhiannon," he says. We both start walking towards the door of the room. I'm slightly startled when Steve steps in front of me to open the door for me.

"Thank you," I say as I step through the door. He nods his head once as we both start down the hallway going the same way. "So, do you have big plans for the day?"

I hated awkward silence, so I always tried to drum up conversation to avoid it. "Not really, I don't think." He says. "I think I'm getting an apartment."

"Well that's fun," I say. I knew it really wasn't. "So have you just been staying here?" Steve nods his head in confirmation. "Now that is no fun. I've pulled a couple all-nighters here. It's not the most 'homey' place in the world."

"Do you work a lot?" Steve asks.

"I do," I say. "According to Director Fury, I work too much. So he is actually making me take a two-week vacation. Starting now."

"That'll be nice," he says. "Have some time off."

I shrug my shoulder. "I'm not sure how much actual time I'll have off." I say. "I'm sure one of the field agents will call and ask for help with hacking something or fixing something."

"Do they not receive training on how to do that?"

"They do," I tell him. "Put sometimes the bad guys are a little smarter than our guys. But luckily, I'm always- so far- smarter than the bad guys. A lot of that kind of work though is under the table or just favors to the agents."

Steve doesn't say anything as we reach the front door. "Well, enjoy your vacation." He says, holding the door open for me again.

"Thank you," I say. I step through the door and look back at him, waiting for him to walk out as well. "Are you not leaving?"

"Not yet, I have to go meet with Fury."

"Oh," I say, slightly taken back. Then why did he walk to the front door with me? "Well, as I said, if you need any help, just call me."

"Yes ma'am," Steve replies. With a quick dip of his chin, he lets the door close between us and walks back through the lobby.


	3. Chapter 3

I was actually surprised…not a single agent had called me so far. It was about a six days into my vacation and I was starting to run out of things to do. My whole apartment was scrubbed, top to bottom, old clothes were thrown out and replaced, I had caught up on my television shows…I was getting bored. I was contemplating a visit to my foster father's beach house in the Hamptons, which I had yet to use, when my phone rang. Practically pouncing on it, I answer it quickly, not even looking to see who it was calling. "Hello?"

"Rhiannon?" a familiar voice says. "It's Steve Rogers."

"Oh, hey," I say. I quickly peek at my screen; sure enough it displayed _Steve Rogers_ at the top. "Sorry, I didn't look at the I.D. before I answered. Everything okay?"

"Well, I'm not sure," he says, surprisingly timidly. "The laptop, it isn't working right."

"Okay," I say. "Isn't working right…how?"

"It won't turn on and when I try to, there's just a bunch of colored lines on the screen." He says.

I let out a sigh. I think I already knew what the problem was. "Steve, I'm going to ask you once and I want to answer me honestly…did you drop the laptop?"

"No," he responds quickly. There was a few seconds pause until he lets out a sigh. "I accidently knocked it into a sink full of water."

I let out too loud of a groan. "You didn't…" He starts to apologize until I cut him off. "Don't worry about it, accidents happen. What's your address?" He quickly tells me the apartment address. "Alright, I'll be over in a little bit to see if I can fix it."

* * *

"I really figured you'd drop it before getting it wet." I say as Steve opens the door to his apartment.

"I know," he says, a defeated look on his face. "I'm sorry, again."

"It's no big deal," I say as he stands to the side, letting me enter. "Like I said, accidents happen. Now, where's the damage?"

He holds a hand up, motioning towards a little table. As we walk over to it, I gaze around at the apartment. As a whole, it was very simple. There were no decorations, just a small sofa off to one side of the open floor plan, a kitchen parallel to it with a stove, refrigerator, and some counter tops that sat bare except for a toaster. In the middle of the kitchen area was the table with the damaged laptop. "What's all that?" Steve says, recapturing my attention. I follow his gaze to the bag in my hand.

"This," I say, sitting it down on the table next to the laptop. "Is my emergency kit. Think of it as a doctor's bag for electronics." Steve nods his head as I start to pull the supplies out of the bag.

"What do you need rice for?"

"You'd be surprised," I say. "Just hold on, and you'll see." Steve crosses his arms over his chest as I sit down at the table. As I start taking apart the laptop, I glance up at him. "Want to help?"

"Am I able to?" he asks as he sits down in the chair next to mine.

"Sure," I say. I pass him the large empty tub and the large bag of rice. "Fill that tub with the rice and when I hand you a piece, bury it in the rice. Make sure it's covered."

"What does the rice do?" he asks.

"Rice will soak up all the moisture," I say. "It's not always a guarantee fix, but it helps a lot of the time."

"I would've never thought of that," he says as I hand him the first piece.

"Glad you didn't," I say. I look over at him as he raises an eyebrow in question. "Then I would've never gotten to see where the reclusive Captain America lives."

"Reclusive?" Luckily he could tell I was just teasing him. _Or are you flirting with him?_ My pesky conscious says.

"Yup," I say. "My co-workers tell me that word around headquarters is that you're turning into a recluse since coming out of the ice."

"And what did you tell them?" he asks. There was an edge of anger in his voice. I could tell he wasn't too fond of the idea of people spreading rumors about him.

"I told them, that I have it on good authority, since I've met you once and we're practically best friends now, I know for a fact that you are not a recluse. And that actually, you are just enjoying our wonderful city."

A corner of his mouth quirks up. "Best friends, huh?"

"Of course," I say with an accompanying shrug. "I'm putting your laptop in rice…that's best friend level by today's standards."

"Oh really?" A little spark of playfulness lights up his green eyes.

"Yep," I say, handing him the final piece of the laptop. "But seriously, don't worry about rumors at headquarters. Most of them are started because people are either bored or jealous."

"I guess I would be a good topic of discussion," Steve muses.

"That you are," I say. "Anyways, here is- oh, hold on." My phone ringing interrupts me. I look down at it, seeing _Maria Hill_ displayed at the top. "This can't be good…" I muse before answering it. "Hello?"

"Saggart, I know you're supposed to be on vacation, but have you left town?" Hill asks.

"No," I say, confused. "I'm still in New York. Why, what's going on?"

"We've just had an incident at one of our research facilities," she says. "I can't divulge what's happened, but I need you to stay in the city on stand-by."

My heart jumps into my throat for a second. They had told me this may happen, when I became head of my division, but I never thought it actually would. "Okay, I'll stay put. Do I need to do anything else?"

"No, not for now." She replies. "Just keep your phone on and stay alert." I tell Maria that I understand before she hangs up.

"Everything okay?" Steve says as I sit the phone down.

"I'm not sure." I say. "That was Maria Hill; I'm on stand-by."

"Stand-by?"

"Yeah, I don't know," I say, shaking my head. "It's probably nothing. I just have to stay in the city."

"I hope everything is okay." A line of worry creases his forehead.

"I'm sure it is. This may even just be a drill," I say with a shrug. "Anyways, as I was saying, here is a replacement laptop. Let this one sit in the rice for a couple of days, then I'll come back and put it together again."

Steve nods his head as I hand him the replacement laptop. We both stand and head towards the door. "Maybe I should call Fury, just to make sure everything is okay…"

"I wouldn't worry about it Steve," I say, waving a hand in the air. "If he needs you, trust me, Fury will let you know."

"Really," he asks as he opens the door for me.

I nod my head. "And like I said, it's probably nothing…"


	4. Chapter 4

I was way, way wrong about the situation being no big deal. "I so should've gone to the Hamptons anyways," I say out loud. I was talking to myself, because everyone else around me on the street were running for their lives, like I should've been. Instead, I stood there, staring at the creatures descending from the hole in sky above Stark Tower. _Should I go into work? Should I go home? I doubt any planes are flying out…_

I stood there on the sidewalk, frozen in fear I figured out later, staring at the chaos unfolding. It was like everything was in a dream, or as if I was watching a movie rather than this actually happening. Never, in my wildest dreams would I have imagined an alien attack happening. But there I stood, right in the middle of one. People around me were telling to run, trying to pull me along with them, but I was rooted to the spot. I saw, rather than heard the jet above me get hit with a ray of light and then saw it start spinning towards me. Then, like a vacuum, I was snapped out of my daze and ran to get out of the way. I could feel debris from the crash hit my back as I neared a store front. I hid behind a pillar, not sure who was in the jet, good guys or bad guys. I peek out and let out a sigh of relief when I see Steve, Natasha Romanov, and Clint Barton exited the jet. Immediately, they go into attack mode, fighting the creatures that had followed them there.

I stay behind the pillar, catching a glimpse of Iron Man joining the trio, and then hearing Thor appear. After a little while, the noise of fighting ceases. I peek around the pillar once again, seeing the group, now joined by a ragged looking man in a purple shirt, talking amongst themselves. I couldn't spot anymore of the creatures, so I step out from behind the pillar, to try to get to better safety. As I do, I see the guy in the purple shirt transform into the Hulk. As he does, more of the creatures appear. I try to run past the group, who had resumed fighting. As I see my opening, I make a break for it. Running as hard as I can (I am far, far from being any sort of athlete. Yoga is the extent of my exercise.), I'm stopped by a creature jumping in front of me. Letting out a scream, I try to turn around to run away, but the creature grabs me and tries to pull me back. After hearing a *zing* above my head, the creatures grip loosens on me. I turn to look at it, seeing Steve's shield sticking out of its neck. "Rhiannon?" Steve says as he runs up to me to retrieve his shield. "What are you-"

"I think saying 'wrong place, wrong time' would be a bit of an understatement," I say.

"You're bleeding," Steve says, reaching up towards my neck. Concern was all over his face…or what I could see under the mask anyway.

I reach up and clap a hand over it, feeling the warm liquid under my fingertips. "I'm fine-"

"Let's get you-"

"Steve," I cut him off, giving him a hard stare. "You've got way bigger fish to fry than your tech girl having a cut on her neck. Now go save Manhattan. I need to get back to headquarters."

Steve's lips purse for a second before he nods his head. I watch him as he steps around me, grabs his shield, and then runs off. Once he's heading towards more fighting, I turn to head towards headquarters; I knew Fury would want me to start scrambling S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security codes in anticipation of a cyber-attack along with the literal, physical attack. I pull out my phone and dial Alex's number as I round a corner, sending up a silent prayer that it looked deserted. "Alex, please tell me you're safe."

"Yeah, I'm good. Tiny Tim-" "Don't call me that!" "-is here too. We're at the lab. Where are you?"

"I'll give you one guess," I say, picking up my gait.

"Holy crap…you got caught in the attack!" Alex practically screams into the phone. I vaguely hear a scuffle as Tim apparently tries to grab the phone from Alex. "Are you-"

"I'm fine guys, I've just got a small cut. I'm on my way there though," I hear a loud growl in the distant. Was it my imagination, or was it getting closer too? "Listen, start scrambling the codes. Scramble to the fullest extent, but remember what you-" I stop talking when I hear the growl right above me. That's also when I see the chunk of the building I was standing next to falling down on top of me.

* * *

I wake with a start, immediately sitting up. "Hey, hey, hey, you're alright Rhiannon, you're alright," After a second I realize I'm in a hospital…and my head is killing me. I feel a hand holding mine; looking to my right I see Steve standing there, leaning towards me.

"Steve?" I say, more because I was confused as to why he was at my bedside. "What-"

"I'm going to grab a nurse," he says. I lay back in the bed as I watch him halfway step out of the door. When he comes back in the room, I'm still giving him a confused look. "How do you feel?"

"My head hurts," I say. "So does my leg…and basically my whole body, really. What are you doing here?"

Steve lets out a sigh as he sits down in the chair next to my bed, pulling it closer so it was easier for me to see him. "When the battle was over and we had Loki and Thor back to Asgard, I asked about you back at headquarters." He says. "Turns out you were the only S.H.I.E.L.D. agent seriously injured in the attack."

"How long have I been out?" I ask. Steve doesn't get a chance to answer me before the nurse and a doctor comes in. By the way they're dressed, I can tell I'm in a S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital. The nurse and doctor go through a series of questions with me, check my vitals, and administer some more pain medicine in my I.V. Luckily, it has an instant effect on my aching body.

"You gave us quite a worry, Miss Saggart," the doctor says. "After the first couple of weeks we weren't sure-"

"I've been out for weeks?" I practically screech.

The doctor looks at me for a second before turning to the nurse. "Let's give her five of Ativan," she says to the nurse. I watch the nurse as she leaves the room before turning back to look at the doctor. "Miss Saggart, you've been in a coma for about a month now- don't get yourself worked up, let's calm down-"

As I start hyperventilating, I feel Steve grab my hand again. "Please leave," I say. The people around me aren't sure who I'm talking to. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the doctor look at Steve, thinking I was talking to him. I turn my head sharply to glare at her. "Get out of my room…please."

The doctor purses her lips before walking out of the room. The nurse meets her at the door with the medicine, who also turns around and walks away. "I was asleep for a month?"

"You may as well as know, you're not in New York either," Steve says. I shut my eyes, trying to fight back the tears. "They transferred you to Washington D.C. once they realized how serious your condition was."

"So what are you doing here?" I spit at him. When I open my eyes, I see him looking at me confused. "What, you just hopped at train to D.C. to bring me flowers?" I was being unfair to him, I knew this. I doubt anyone else visited me. "I'm sorry…I just-"

"Hey, you're okay." He says. "If you must know though, Fury transferred me here. Not everyone is the biggest fan of the Avengers right now."

I nod my head, still trying to calm myself down. "Was it bad?" I ask hesitantly.

Steve's head hangs down for a second before he finally looks me in the eye. "Yeah, it was bad." He says quietly. A heavy silence falls between us for a few minutes. "They, um, the first responders that found you, said that you had to have been under the rubble for a couple of days. You were really lucky."

"Seems that way." I say. "You don't happen to know anything Alex and Tim…do you?" Alex and Tim were really my only friends.

"They're still in New York," he says. "They visit when they can…but they're staying busy after the…incident."

"I bet," I say. "Thank you though."

"For what?"

"You want the laundry list?" I say, a corner of my mouth turning up. "Saving me from the alien, saving Manhattan, saving the world really, coming to visit me-"

"Alright," Steve says, a smile finally gracing his features. "And I'd say it's all in a day's work but…"

"Not your typical day at work." I finish for him.

"I'm glad you woke up though," Steve says. The slight pitch in his voice makes my heart jump.

"You didn't break your laptop again did you?" I say with a chuckle. It hurt to laugh.

"No," he says. "I've learned my lesson with that. But…" he pauses for a moment before giving me a small smile. "I'm just glad you're okay."


	5. Chapter 5

"What's going on here?" Steve says, standing in the doorway of my hospital room.

"Just you watch," I say. I turn back to face the physical therapist, who had helped me move to the side of the bed. One of the little recognized side effects of traumatic brain injuries and being in a coma for a month…you sometimes forget how to walk. So here I was, sitting on the edge of the bed, psyching myself up to stand without a walker for the first time. It was the first time Steve had seen me up though. "Hang onto your shield Cap, and get a load of this." With a little difficulty I stand up, a death grip on the therapist hand.

"That's great Rhiannon," Steve says as he comes over to us. "Is this your first time up?"

"Nope," I say. "I've been doing therapy every day. They usually come in after you leave though." Steve had been by to see me every day.

"Would you like to take her for a walk Captain?" the therapist asks Steve.

"Sure," he says, sitting down the large tote bag in his hand on a nearby chair. "That okay with you?"

"Yeah," I say.

"Don't worry, I'll be right behind you guys," the therapist says as I grab onto Steve's hand.

"Ready?" Steve says. I nod my head as the three of us slowly make our way to the door and out in the hallway. The therapist hangs back a couple steps as we start down the hallway.

"My goal is to make it around the floor twice," I say, keeping a hold of Steve's arm.

The therapist behind us says something about not overdoing it. I wanted to do as much as I could, so I could get out of this hospital. "I'm glad to see you up and walking," Steve says.

"It feels good to be up and walking," I say, nodding my head. "So how has your day?"

"Pretty good," Steve says. He quickly recounts his day, which mainly consisted of going for a run and getting groceries. The highlight of his day though had been the little boy at the supermarket that had recognized him. "After I leave here though, I'm going on a mission with Romanov."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah," he replies. "She actually asked me about you. I think she said she may come by and see you."

My nose scrunches involuntarily. Natasha Romanov only talked to me when she needed help with something; it kind of struck me as odd that she would visit me in the hospital. Then again…Steve had been the only person to visit me so far. "Well, you better come back. If you don't, I'll be the loser of the ward that never gets any visitors."

Steve lets out a chuckle. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

I shake my head a little as we turn down another hallway. "Steve," I say after a few minutes silence. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course…"

"I just…" I was trying to find a way to word my question without sounding like a jerk. "I guess I just don't fully understand why you've came to visit me every day…" Steve lets out a long breath through his nose. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like you visiting me or that I'm telling you to stop. It's just that we didn't know each other that long beforehand and-"

"I know what you mean, Rhiannon," Steve says. I peek a glance up at him, his brows were furrowed together. "You…you're easy to talk to. I enjoy your company and when I saw you at the battle in New York…I don't know, something clicked inside. When I heard that you got hurt-"

"I need to sit down," I say suddenly. My knees were feeling weak and I couldn't tell if it was from walking so far or from the conversation. A second later, a wheel chair was behind me and I was sitting down.

"Do you want to go back to your room?" the therapist asks me.

"No." I say, waving a hand in the air. "I'm fine. I'm just going to sit out here and talk with Steve some more. I'll walk more later." The therapist pats me on the shoulder a couple of times before walking away. Steve grabs a nearby chair, pulling it up next to me. "I'm sorry; my legs were just feeling a little weak."

"You don't have to apologize," he says. "But, Rhiannon-" I turn my head to look at him as he softly lays his hand on top of mine. "When you get discharged…would you like to have dinner with me?"

I turn the thought over in my head. _Would I like to have dinner with him? Look at what he does for a living, are you crazy? He is a nice guy though…so sweet…geez, he's been visiting you every day for the last two months!_ "Yes," I say quickly. "I would like that."

A smile breaks across Steve's face. "I, um, I actually brought you a present." I raise my eyebrows at him. I was wondering what was in that tote bag. "Do you want to go back to your room and see it?"

I nod my head a little too eagerly as Steve stands up and starts pushing my wheelchair back towards my room. A few minutes later, I'm back in bed. I watch Steve, with a new pep in his step, slides my bedside table over my lap. A second later, he pulls out a laptop, my laptop, and sets it down on the table. "Steve! Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!" I squeal as open the laptop and start it up. I had not gone without a laptop for this long. "You are the best!"

"Well, we are best friends…right?" I look up at him and give him a smile. I really liked his smile. "I need to get going. But I'll come back tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," I nod my head. "We'll finish that walk."

Steve flashes another smile towards me before walking out of the room. After he leaves, I pull up my e-mail. There were tons unread. Opening the first one, from Director Fury, my eyes go wide as I read it.

 _Miss Saggart,_

 _I trust you are recuperating well. Your skills are sorely missed around here. Seeing though, as how you were transferred to Washington D.C. to continue your care, I will be transferring your position there as well. As soon as you are well enough, you will start in your new position as head of cyber security for all of S.H.I.E.L.D., based out of the Triskelion. Maria Hill will be in contact with you to discuss moving your belongings and finding housing. Congratulations on the promotion, and get better soon._

 _-Director Nicholas J. Fury_


	6. Chapter 6

"Well you look a hell of a lot better since I saw you last." My eyes wander from my laptop to the doorway and find Natasha Romanov standing there.

"Heard you wanted to come visit me," I say, shutting the laptop. I was actually able to sit up in a recliner, so Natasha walks over and sits on the edge of the bed. "Didn't believe it…but Steve told me."

"Well, seeing as how my new teammate was so concerned with your well-being, thought I'd come check up on you too." She says coolly.

"Does it make me a workaholic if I was secretly hoping you'd bring me something to work on?" I ask her.

"Just a little bit. But I can't judge anyone on being a workaholic." She says. Her eyes narrow at me for a split second. "So…Rogers says he comes to see you…almost every day?"

"Yeah," I say. "Honestly he's my only visitor. Everyone else is back in New York, so…"

"And you don't mind that a guy you barely knew was sitting at your bedside while you were in a coma?" Natasha says, arching an eyebrow.

I mull the thought over for a second. "I honestly don't," I say. "I really enjoy his company. Also, it's not like he's a creep or anything."

"Hmm," Natasha says, shrugging her shoulder. "Heard you got transferred to Triskelion?" The rest of Natasha's visit was very mundane; just me telling her how long they expected me to be there. I even hacked one system for her. After about an hour, she stands up to leave. I tell her bye, but before she walks out, she throws one more comment my way. "You could've had someone worse than Rogers at your bedside."

* * *

 _Steve's Point of View_

"Congrats Cap," Natasha says as she walks onto the jet. "Your tech girl is crazy about you."

"What are you-"

"I stopped by the hospital today," she says. I sit down my shield and turn to look at her. "Rhiannon is crazy about you."

"So you just stopped by the hospital and point-blank asked her how she felt about me?" I couldn't tell if I was mortified or stunned. Relationship boundaries in this era were so weird.

"Well, I didn't ask her out-right," Natasha says, shrugging her shoulders. This wasn't a trait of the superspy I had been expecting; she was a bit of a meddler, especially when it came to my love life. "But she basically said so." I shake my head as I turn back to cleaning my shield. "What? I mean, you know you wanted to ask her out. So now, you can ask her with more-"

"I already did," I cut her off. "I asked her yesterday if she'd like to have dinner. Once she's out of the hospital though. Since, you know, she's trying to relearn how to walk and all."

Natasha gives me a non-committal shrug. "Still," she says. "It's always good to know where you stand."

* * *

 _Rhiannon's Point of View_

"Well, Miss Saggart," the doctor says as she walks into the room. "I'm about to say something that will make you very happy-" My eyes widen with anticipation. "I'm sending you home today."

It had been two months since I woke up. Most of my wounds were healed, just a brace on one of my arms, and I was walking almost completely normal. I open my mouth to spew my thanks to her, but I stop. What was home to me? Some new place I had picked out online? That I had trusted some stranger to decorate? Home was New York or the place I grew up to me. Was D.C. my new home now? "Um, thanks, thank you very much."

The doctor doesn't pick up on my hesitation as she tells me that a nurse would bring in my paperwork and help me get dressed to leave. About an hour later, I'm sitting in a recliner waiting on the transport S.H.I.E.L.D. was providing, when Steve walks in. "Hey-" he stops when he sees me in normal clothes. "You're not in- why are you in normal clothes?"

"They're discharging me," I say, rather glumly. I hadn't meant for it to come out that way. "I get to go home." I add, trying to sound happier about it.

Steve walks over and sits on the edge of the bed next to my chair. "You don't sound as excited as I thought you would…"

I let out a sigh as I shut the laptop that was in my lap. "It's just…" I shake my head. "I had a whole life in New York, I was happy there. And now I have to do that here…in D.C. I just-" I shake my head again. I wasn't really sure what was wrong with me. "I'm used to moving, it's not that. I don't know…"

"Your life has flipped," Steve says. "Your life three months ago is different than today. You're different today."

I give him a fleeting smile as I pull off the gauze bandage where my I.V. was. "So, at least you don't have to come to the hospital everyday anymore."

Steve nods his head. "How are you getting to your place?" he asks. "I can-"

"There is no way you are taking me out of the hospital on your motorcycle," I say with a laugh.

He laughs a little with me. "I was going to say, I could call Natasha," he says.

"Thank you," I say. "But S.H.I.E.L.D. is providing transport. Perks of the new job."

"Alright," Steve says. A silence settles between us. These usually happened, when they did Steve would sketch on a piece of paper and I would work on my laptop. They were comfortable; they didn't need anything to fill them.

A few minutes later, a gruff looking man, along with a team behind him, approaches the door to my room. "Miss Saggart," he addresses me, his voice deep and gruff. "I'm Agent Rumlow. Director Fury asked me and my team to escort you home."

"Fury sent a S.T.R.I.K.E. team to take her home?" Steve says. I look over at him, to see him peering at the men at my door.

"New job must make me all kinds of important," I say. Whatever tension was forming in the room fizzles out. Reaching out, I take Steve's hand and stand up. It was so much easier to stand up now; I release Steve's hand once I'm up. Steve grabs my bags and papers sitting on the bed.

"We have wheelchair for you if you need it ma'am," Rumlow says as I near the door.

"Thank you," I say. "But I think I'd like to walk out of here. Symbolic and all, you know?" Rumlow gives me a half smile as he nods his head. Side by side, me and Steve walk out of the room with the S.T.R.I.K.E team behind us. On my way out, I say goodbye to the nursing staff and doctors that had cared for me. Once we're out of the hospital, Rumlow directs me towards the waiting S.U.V. "Wow," I say, spotting the two S.U.V.'s sitting there, S.H.I.E.L.D. emblems on the doors. "I'm so special I get a caravan."

Steve hands my bags to one of the agents before turning to me. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah," I say. "A physical therapist is supposed to come and help me around once."

"Okay," he says, nodding his head. "Um, is your answer still the same…for me taking you to dinner?"

I smile at him as I reach out and grab his hand for moment, giving it a squeeze. "Yeah, my answer is the same."

Steve nods his head. "Alright. I'll call you?"

"Sounds good," I say, nodding my head. I give one more smile before climbing, with assistance, into the back of the S.U.V.


	7. Chapter 7

I stand at the front doors of the Triskelion…or well, the doors I was supposed to enter through. I was nervous to go in. It had been a week since I was discharged from the hospital and my first day back to work. Head of all cyber security for S.H.I.E.L.D…that was a pretty hefty load for a twenty two-just-shy-of-twenty-three year old to carry. But I couldn't deny, I was good…I was very, very good at what I did. From a young age, I displayed that I was good with computer, far better than a five year old should be. With a deep breath, I psych myself up and step up to the door and open it. Automatically, my phone dings with a new message: _Please see me in my office -NJF._ I guess being head of cyber security meant that I texted with Director Fury now.

A few minutes later, I step off the elevator and walk down the short hallway to Fury's office. "Miss Saggart," he says as I walk in. "Good to see you walking around."

I give him a small nod. "I'm glad to be walking around, sir." I say. "But, I'm still on the mend, so if you don't mind, I'm going to sit. It was a longer walk than I anticipated here."

Fury nods and motions with his hand towards a chair on the other side of his desk. "Of course, have a seat." After I sit, he regards me with a steely look. "Head of Cyber Security…"

"Yes sir," I say after a moment's silence. I wasn't sure what he meant by the phrase.

"You know, I received a lot of feedback on your promotion," he says. "Most of it negative…"

"Oh," I say. My brows furrow together for a moment. "But sir…I'm obviously qualified. I mean-"

"I know you are, and so do they." Fury says. I wasn't sure who he meant by "they". "They mostly think you're too young. Twenty-two years old? Head of a major and fast developing sector of an international security unit?"

"Well, sir, when you put it that way…yeah, you sound crazy for picking me." Despite his serious demeanor, a corner of his mouth quirks up. "But, sir, if we want to compare ages with job qualifications…Captain Rogers is technically ninety years old and he saved all of New York."

Fury nods his head as he stands from his desk and picks up a file. "I think you'll do just fine." He hands me the file as he rounds his desk to stand in front of me. "In your new role, this is what I mainly want you focusing on."

I open the file and peer at the front page. " _Project Insight_?" I read the name out loud.

"It's a new defense system we are building." he says. "I want you to write the defense and security codes for it."

Automatically, ideas start running through my head. "Yes sir," I say, thumbing quickly through the other pages. "How strong do they need to be?"

"Strong enough that even you couldn't hack it."

* * *

As I said, it had been a week since I was released from the hospital. Which also meant it had been a week since I heard from Steve. I tried my hardest not to worry, but I was worried. I didn't think him the type to change his mind and just not saying anything to me. In my mind, something must have happened to him on a mission. Around lunch time, my assistant (I had an assistant, how cool), rings my phone. "Miss Saggart, Captain Rogers is here to see you." The question in the statement was obvious.

I tell her to send him in, my stomach fluttering with excitement. It was weird, going from seeing Steve every day to not seeing him for a week. "Well hey there stranger," I say as he walks in the room.

"I know, I know," he says, hanging his head. "I said I'd call and I didn't and-"

"It's alright Steve," I say, standing up from my desk. I walk around it to stand in front of him.

"It's actually not," he says with a downturn of his lips. "But here, I brought you these." He brings the hand he had been holding behind his back around to reveal and beautiful small bouquet of roses, lilies, carnations, and daisy poms.

"Steve," I say breathlessly, taking the flowers from him. "This is beautiful, thank you."

"You're welcome. I saw them on my way here and they just reminded me of you." he says. "I also came to see if you'd like to have lunch with me?"

"Yes," I say, maybe a little too quickly. Turning, I sit the flowers down on my desk and grab my cardigan. "I'd like that."

He gives me a small smile before we walk out of my office. "I know of a place," he says once we reach the lobby. "If you don't have a preference."

"It doesn't matter to me," I say, shaking my head. As we walk out the front doors, Steve starts to direct me towards his motorcycle. "Oh crap, I forgot you drove that death trap!"

Gently placing a hand on my elbow, Steve turns me towards him once we're next to it. "You're going to be fine Rhiannon." he says. "I promise I'm an excellent driver."

I let out a huff of air as I cross my arms over my chest. I honestly didn't mind to ride with him…it just freaked me out some. "I know you are," I say. "I mean, you are Captain-freaking-America. I'm sure you've driven in worse conditions than D.C. traffic."

"Yeah," Steve says, reaching past me to grab a helmet. "Nazi Germany was a little more stressful than the freeway."

I shake my head as he hands me the helmet. I turn to face the bike as I strap it on. Once Steve was on, without a helmet of course, I climbed on and sat behind him. At first, I just held on to his jacket, but once he took off, my slight fear of falling off over took me and I wrapped my arms completely around his waist, hugging myself to his back.

About twenty minutes later we arrive at the restaurant. Steve climbs off the bike first, extending a hand towards me to help me off. "I hope you like this place," Steve says as we near the door. "Natasha recommended it."

"I'm sure it's better than hospital food." My nose scrunches up at the memory. "Anything would be better than hospital food."

Steve lets out a humorless chuckle as he holds the door open for me. "You've never had Army food."


	8. Chapter 8

I clamp a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing too loudly. "I really didn't think you'd laugh that much at that story." Steve says.

"I'm sorry," I say, trying to calm myself down. "I'm just picturing it in my head…I can't help it."

"I guess it would've been funny to see." Steve says. A few seconds later my laughs completely disappear. "So, enough about my apparently hilarious childhood…"

"Oh, you want to hear about mine now?" I say. Me and Steve had been at the restaurant for close to an hour and a half. We had been done eating for a while; now we were just swapping stories. "Mine's pretty boring."

"Not from the little snippets I've heard," Steve says. I could tell just by the twitch of his lips he wanted to know.

"There's a reason why people only know snippets," I say. As a general rule…I didn't talk about my youth. I didn't like bringing it up.

"Alright," Steve says, holding his hands up as if surrendering. "If you don't want to talk about it-"

"I do," I say too quickly. "I just…I either don't mind if you know or I want you to know. Either way, I don't care to tell you…it's just that I'm not used to telling people or even talking about it." Steve doesn't say anything, just moves his hands from on top of the table to his lap. I let out a quiet sigh. "I was in a really bad car wreck with my parents when I was four; I survived, they didn't." A hard look settles on Steve's face. I don't think he was expecting that. "A man name General Daniel Saggart adopted me when I was five. I still, to this day, don't know why he did. He wasn't married or anything, he just stopped by the orphanage one day. Anyways, we moved around a lot. I never actually got to go to a real school, so I was tutored which allowed me to finish school early. I went to M.I.T., finished early there too, worked for a corporation out on the west coast for a year or so and now I'm at S.H.I.E.L.D."

Steve doesn't say anything right away, just nods his head. "Natasha said you were good with computers…" he muses.

"I guess I'm more than good," I say with a little shrug. "I don't know. I've just always understood them. This may sound weird, but it's like they speak to me."

"No, it's not weird." I raise an eyebrow at him. "Okay, it's a little weird to me…but I understand what you mean. It's your passion."

"That it is," I say. A smile comes to my face before I even realize it. In that moment though, I felt more connected to Steve. Yes, there was a (major) age difference between us; but I had always felt as if my upbringing had matured me faster. We both had not so great childhoods, we both lost our parents unfairly. "I better get back to work. Don't want Fury thinking I've gone AWOL on my first day."

* * *

"So, heard you had a big date with Rogers last night," I hear from the doorway. I turn away from my computer screen, Natasha lean against the doorway.

I shake my head as a smile creeps up. Steve had finally taken me on a "real date", as he called it, the night before. "I plead the fifth." I say.

"More like you don't kiss and tell," she says. I start to say something, but she cuts me off. "Not what I came here to talk to you about. I have favor to ask."

"Okay, who's hard drive do you need hacked?"

"Actually, it's a little more complicated than that," she says. "I would actually need you to come on the mission with me-"

I cut her off with my laughing. "Oh," I say, seeing her looking at me with a glare. "You're serious. Natasha, I have zero…zero field training."

"That's why you'd have me and a whole team there watching your back," she says. "Listen, I've looked at every option and there's no way to get this intel without you there on the ground."

"Why couldn't Stark or even Banner go with you?"

"Well, it's kind of obvious why Banner couldn't," she says, sitting down in the chair across from my desk. "And Stark…you know you're better than him."

"That is true…" I say. "What does Fury say?"

"He was the one that suggested you." She says. "So…you in?"

I let out a sigh. "Do I have a choice?" I say. "I'm in."

"Good," Natasha says. "We leave today at 2100. I'll shoot you message with more details. You should go home and get some sleep."

Before I can say anything else, Natasha stands up and walks out of my office.


	9. Chapter 9

"You almost look like a real agent," Natasha says as I near the jet. I sneer at her before looking down at the uniform they had given me to wear. It was the standard S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform: skin-tight and uncomfortable. Okay, it really wasn't that uncomfortable. "Take it as a compliment."

"I'll try," I say. I hand her my bag to let her stow it for take-off.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," she says, walking back over to me. "Rogers is going on the mission now too."

"What?" I say. "Why didn't you-"

"Here he comes now," she says, looking past me.

I also turn around and immediately lock eyes with him. A hard look crosses his face. "I thought you said you had work to do tonight," he says once he's near us.

"I do," I say. "Just not here. Natasha asked me to go with-"

"You're going on this mission?" Steve says. The fire was building behind his eyes.

"We need her on the ground Rogers," Natasha says, sticking up for me. "There's no way to do this remotely."

"No field agents can do this? Or S.T.R.I.K.E agents?" Steve still argues against me going.

But I had enough of it. "No, they can't because they aren't me." I fire at him. Him, and Natasha are both taken back by the force in my voice. "I am the best there is. That is why Natasha asked me to go. I am more than capable of handling myself out there and I should be able to trust you two to watch my back. If you have a problem with that, feel free to take yourself off the assignment."

Before either of them says anything, I sharply turn around and march onto the jet. Not knowing exactly where I could sit, I plop down in a seat along the wall. It was still in Steve and Natasha's line of sight, but I stare ahead, starting to count the bolts along the opposite wall. A few minutes later, I dutifully ignore the sound of heavy boots walking up the ramp of the jet. I continue to stare ahead as Steve sits down beside me, letting out a long sigh. "I can get…too over protective at times." He says. "It's like you and your passion for technology. I just can't help it. I get protective…especially of people I care about."

I cross my arms over my chest as I finally let my eyes wander towards him. The corners of his mouth were turned down as he stared down at his hands. "You still didn't have to talk to me like that. Or about me, rather."

"I know," he says, nodding his head. "I'm sorry. I'm-" His nostrils flare a little as he lets out another breathe. "I wasn't even going to go on this mission at first. Nat had asked me yesterday, but I turned it down. I thought…I thought today was going to go a lot different. Actually, to be honest…I don't know what I was expecting from today."

My eyebrows knit together as I turn towards him a little. My arms were still crossed, but he had piqued my interest. "What happened today?"

"I went to see Peggy Carter," he says. I rack my brain for a minute, but then remember who she was. But I didn't understand what her connection to Steve was. "Peggy was…well, I don't really know what she was before I went into the ice. Technically nothing I guess. But…"

My arms fall down and my hands land in my lap. "You cared for her…a lot." It was written all over his face.

He nods his head slowly. "She has severe dementia now. Can't hold her memory for more than a couple of hours. It was tough, seeing her like that. I thought maybe a mission would clear my head." Steve finally turns to look me in the eye. His eyes were filled with a strange swirl of pain and hope. "But then when I saw you standing by Natasha, geared up, and ready to go. This…fear washed over me. Then the instinct of protecting you kicked in."

Tentatively, I reach out and place one of my hands on top of his. I have to choose my words carefully, mainly because my brain was all in a tizzy. "I am so, so sorry that you had to see her like that." I truly was, he had obviously cared for her a lot and then thought of Steve hurting upset me. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to tell him that I was going to be alright, but there was no guarantee of that. I felt like whatever I wanted to say was on the tip of my tongue…but it just wouldn't come out.

Steve lets out another sigh as he takes his other hand and covers mine. "You've got me Rhiannon," he says. My breath catches in my throat. "I tried, so many times to tell myself to keep my distance from you; that I'd bring you nothing but trouble. But the more I thought it, the more I wanted to be around you, to hear you laugh, to see your smile, to see you get lost in your work."

At Steve's words, a floodwall in my heart I hadn't even realized was up burst wide open. I swallow back the lump forming in my throat as I nod my head at him. Reaching my free hand up, I let it come to rest on the side of his neck. Without even having to pull him towards me, our lips meet in the middle. After a sweet, chaste kiss, our lips separate and he rests his forehead on mine. "You've got me too." I whisper. One of his hands comes up to cup the side of my face as he pulls my lips back to his. When we finally separate, Steve's hand on the side of my face drops down to our intertwined hands again. I fleetingly look down at our hands before looking back up at him and giving him a smile. "I'm still going on the mission though."

* * *

"You 'bout done Saggart?" Natasha says…again.

"Not if you want this done right- dammit," I say the last word under my breath. We were in the midst of the mission. Natasha had been able to get me to the command room I needed to be in. But the (idiots in my opinion) who had wrote the defensive software were proving a little challenging. "I need like ten minutes, tops."

"You're fine, Rhiannon," Steve says, his voice ringing in my ear from the comms unit. "We're still secure, so you're good."

"Dang right I'm good," I say, finally taking down a crucial firewall. "Make that five minutes." I stick the thumb drive into the port, letting it start to grab files from the hard drive. "Are all your missions usually this easy?" I say, sneaking a peek up at Natasha. "Cause if so, I think I might-"

"We got incoming," Steve says suddenly. Before him or Natasha can say or do anything, an alarm starts ringing through the whole building.

"What happened Rhiannon?" Natasha says, coming over to also look at the screen.

"I don't know," I say, frantically trying to find a way to shut down the security system. "It wasn't me. It had to of come from somewhere else."

"Regardless, we need to get out of here. Now." Steve says as he enters the room. "Grab the thing and let's go."

"I can't take this with us!" I practically screech at him. "Do you know how easily they could trace it? I just need like one more minute to get all these files-"

"We don't have a minute," Natasha says, looking at a device in her hand. "We've two headed our way-"

"Crap, crap, crap," I say, trying to work faster.

The doors suddenly burst open as two security-looking guys enter the room. "Keep working!" Natasha yells at me as her and Steve start fighting the guys. My hands shake slightly as I continue to work. I hear another crash, but don't pay it any mind until a pair of hands wrap around my shoulders and throw me forcibly from the desk. A loud grunt escapes me as I collide with a stack of filing cabinets. When I finally come to a stop, I look back at the computer bank I had been working on and see a big burly guy trying to undo all the work I had done. Even from a distance I could tell he wasn't doing any damage to my work. Regardless, I run at him and jump on his back. My hands grab at his face, obscuring his view. He backs both of us up, running me into the wall. My grip on him only tightens though as he tries to beat me off his back. Finally realizing his tactic wasn't working, he reaches back and grabs the back of my suit. With more force than I thought possible, he throws me across the room past Steve and Natasha, who were still fighting with the three other people that had join the first two. "You okay Saggart?" Natasha's voice says over the comms. My head was ringing and I definitely had some cracked ribs…I was probably not okay, but I told her yes anyways. I could feel some blood running down the side of my face as I stand back up; I was running on pure adrenaline. The brute was back at the computer bank. Ducking down once again, I crawl across the floor back towards the computers. Once I'm near him, I pull my lone weapon, a taser, out of my hip holster and turn it on as high as it'll go before pressing it to his leg. He falls to the ground and freezing for a few seconds. When he's down on the ground, out cold, I crawl under the table and stand back up. As I had guessed, he hadn't done any damage to my work. Within a few seconds, I had what we came here for.

"I got it, I'm done," I tell Natasha and Steve. As I say it, Steve and Natasha jointly knock out the last guy.

"Good, we need to get out of here," Natasha says. I nod my head as they come up to me. "You good?"

"Yeah," I say. I pocket the drive before reaching up to wipe away whatever blood was on my face.

Natasha purses her lips at me before turning to Steve, who was also looking at me with a worried look. "She's gonna drop once we hit the jet," she says to him. "Keep an eye on her." What did she mean I was going to drop? I felt fine.

Steve nods his head before both of them get on either side of me and we head out of the room. A little while later, after only a couple more run-ins, we finally make it to the waiting jet. "What did you mean 'she's going to drop'," I say to Natasha once the back hatch of the jet closes. "I'm honestly fine."

"No you're not," she says. Natasha places her hands on my shoulders and all but pushes me into a seat. "You're running on adrenaline. Pretty soon you'll calm down and you'll pass out."

"What?" I say with a scoff. "You don't know what you're talking about. I am fine."

"Then why are your hands shaking?" she says, arching an eyebrow at me. As I glance down at them, that adrenaline she mentioned finally runs out and I start shaking all over. "Easy, easy, you're alright." Natasha's voice takes on a soothing tone.

I vaguely feel Steve wrap a blanket around my shoulders as he sits down next to me. "You're okay Rhiannon," he says. I continue shaking, whimpering and murmuring about getting thrown around. I was in total shock. Natasha sits down on the other side of me as her and Steve keep telling me that I was okay and that I was safe. Eventually, I lay my head against Steve's shoulder and he wraps an arm around my shoulder. Then, I drift off into a fitful sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

When I finally wake up, my head is pounding. I slowly open my eyes and am surprised to see I'm in my living room. Sitting up slowly, the blanket that was over my shoulders falls down and pools around my waist. I turn, looking around the room, still trying to figure out how I got here, and stop when I spot Steve asleep in my arm chair. Standing up gingerly, I felt sore all over, I walk over and sit on the edge of the coffee table in front of him. "Steve," I say quietly and gently tapping him on the knee. He slowly wakes up and then is more alert once he sees me sitting in front of him.

"Oh, hey, you're awake," he says, sitting up straighter. He rubs at his eyes once with one of his hands. "How do you feel?"

"Like I got thrown around a room," I say with a humorless chuckle. "But other than that, tired…and confused as to how I got here. Care to share how that happened?"

Steve nods his head. "Natasha found your keys, so we brought you here." He says. "You were so restless, but so deep asleep that I thought someone ought to stay with you. And your apartment is…very large, so I didn't want to wander around and that's why you were on the couch."

"Ah, okay," I say. I could understand the part about my apartment being large…it was three stories. I didn't need all the space, but I was kind of stuck with it. "My foster father left me some properties when he passed. I've always meant to sell some of them or rent them out or something; but he had this one in D.C. so when Fury transferred me here…home sweet home."

"It's nice," Steve says, looking around. "But like I said…it's big."

I laugh a little. "Thank you, by the way, for earlier," I say. Flashes of getting thrown around the room and my shaking hands invade my vision. I try to shake my head to make them disappear. "I am definitely not field material that is for sure."

Leaning forward, I rub at my eyes with the heel of my hands. "Hey," I feel one of Steve's strong hands grip my shoulder gently. Looking up at him, a soft gaze was on his face. "You did well. I probably wouldn't have recommended you jumping on the guy's back but…you did good. You didn't run, or hide when things got hairy. You stuck around and got the job done."

"I honestly have no clue what I was thinking jumping on that guy's back," I say. "I always thought I'd be the type to run or hide…"

"You don't know your own strength," Steve says, a corner of his mouth quirking up. "But don't worry, the images will quiet down. They won't haunt you forever."

I nod my head as I slowly stand up. "I'll tell you one thing," I say as I start to walk towards the kitchen. Steve also stands and follows me. "Next time Natasha Romanov shows up in my office, I'm calling in the S.T.R.I.K.E. team to kick her out."

A short laugh erupts from Steve as the lights in the kitchen flick on. "That may be a good idea."

In the kitchen, I open the cabinet where I kept my medicines, mostly left over from my rehab days, along with the standard household pain relievers and first aid supplies. "Of course," I say, gazing up at the top of the cabinet. Steve asks me what's wrong. "My physical therapist put the ibuprofen on the top shelf." I turn back to look at Steve. "Would you mind?"

Steve gives me a smile as he walks closer towards me. "Have a seat; I'll get it for you." I give a grateful smile as I walk past him and perch myself on one of the bar stools at the island. Propping my chin on my hand, I watch him as he effortlessly reaches up and grabs the bottle. Once he has it down, he steps back and looks at the cabinets. "Glasses?" he asks me. I point at the cabinet where I kept my glasses. He opens it and takes one down. "Water from the faucet?"

"Or you could use the refrigerator?" I say, a playful smile growing on my face. I doubted he had ever used a refrigerator that had a built-in water and ice system.

I watch him as he nods his head and walks over to the refrigerator. He flips a couple of switches and presses a couple of buttons, testing them out apparently, before finally putting the glass under the spigot to fill it with water. "You know," he says, walking over towards me (obviously proud of himself) with the now full glass of water in one hand and the ibuprofen in the other. "Back in my day, we called them ice boxes. "

"I know," I say. "My foster dad grew up in the South…so he called it that too when I was growing up." He set the glass down in front of me. I dump a couple pills into my hand before swallowing them with a swig of water. "Thank you sir."

"You're welcome, ma'am," he says.

We stare at each for a few moments until I finally shake my head. "We should probably talk…about what we said before the mission?"

"I meant what I said," he says. I reach forward and lace my hands with his. "I wasn't just saying it or anything…I meant it."

"I did too," I say, nodding my head.

"So…there really isn't much to talk about," Steve says with a shrug. "You know, people today talk everything to death," he says. I let out a loud laugh. It hurt to laugh, but I couldn't stop myself. "I'm serious, back in the day, we just did."

"Is that what we're going to do?" I say, trying to quiet my chuckles. "Just do?"

"Yeah," he says. "We'll just…do." A small smile slowly slips from his face as his brows scrunch together. "I can't promise I'll do everything right all the time…but I'll be the best guy for you."

I smile at him as I reach up and cup the side of his face with one of my hands, running my thumb along his cheek. "You will come to find; I am a very patient person." I lean forward and press my lips to his for a brief moment. "You don't have to be perfect Steve…just be you." Steve smiles back at me before closing the distance between our lips.


	11. Chapter 11

The weeks and months start to pass by and my life settles into a blissful routine. Well, actually my life was chaotic…but it was still blissful. After all, I was dating a "superhero", I was head of a major division of a large security taskforce, and I was working on the Project Insight. It may have been chaotic, but it was my brand of chaotic. Wednesdays, though, were what I had dubbed "slow-down day".

"So, this Voldemort character is after Harry…all because of a prophecy?" Steve asks as I sit the plate of food down in front of him. "That's just crazy."

"Exactly," I say, sitting my own plate down and sitting in the chair catty-corner from him. "I'm glad you're enjoying it though. Cause I probably would've had to rethink this whole relationship if you didn't."

Steve laughs a little and shakes his head. "I just can't wait to see the movies."

I shake a finger at him. "Not until you read all the books." Steve nods his head as we both start eating. We were closing in on a year since Steve had come out of the ice. I felt like we should celebrate in some way…but I also had a feeling Steve wouldn't be too keen on the idea. "So," I say when I notice Steve was done eating. I wipe my mouth off with my napkin and turn towards him. "Don't shut me down before you hear me out okay? In a couple of weeks is-"

"I know you said to hear you out, but I know what you're going to say," he cuts me off. I make a pouty face at him. "And don't give me that look. But, I just don't think that me coming out of the ice is something to celebrate."

"Well I do," I say. I already knew this was a fight I was not ever in a million years going to win.

"Besides, and I was going to ask you this before you brought this up," Steve lets out a sigh, like he was mentally preparing himself for what he was about to say next. "Tony Stark is having a…get-together. They just finished the repairs to Stark Tower and apparently Tony wants to hold some sort of gathering and fundraiser. Anyways, I was wondering if you'd like to be my date?"

I was not expecting that…at all. Total one-eighty from the conversation. "Yeah," I say. "Yeah, I'll go with you."

"Okay," Steve says, nodding his head once. He seemed awfully pleased with himself. "Good. I'll let Stark know. I'll send you the email that he sent me. It has the dress code and all of that on there."

I nod my head as he gathers up both of our plates. Sitting at the table, I turn and watch him as he deposits both of the dishes into the sink and then starts loading the dishwasher. Sometimes, such as moments like this, I wasn't really sure this was my life…

* * *

"This is so not my scene," I murmur under my breath.

"What did you say?" Steve asks.

I glance up at him and see him gazing down at me with a questioning look. "Nothing," I say, shaking my head. Currently, we were standing at the entrance of the Grand Ballroom at the Plaza in New York City. It seemed, Tony had spared no expense and left no one off the guest list. The event was officially coined as a fundraiser for relief efforts after the attack the year before. "I didn't say anything."

Steve lets out a little grunt; he didn't believe me, but he wasn't going to push it. "I guess we should try to find Tony." I nod my head as my hand tightens around the crook of his elbow. As soon as we had stepped out of the car, I had latched myself onto his arm and didn't plan on letting go. I had been to a few "high-society" events with my foster father before he died, but he thankfully let me cut out early every time. I don't know why, but I always got anxiety at events like this. "You look beautiful, by the way."

I mumble a thank you to him as we continue to weave our way through the crowd. One of the perks, well the only perk, of these events was that I loved wearing fancy gowns. Tonight, I was wearing a light blue Elie Saab gown with sleeves that went down to my elbows and little flowers all over it. Finally, towards the middle of the room, we spot Tony. "Ah! The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan made it!" he says loudly once he spotted Steve. "How's it going Cap?" Tony claps Steve on the arm once we reach him.

"I'm good, Tony, thank you." We both see Tony's eyes cut to me. "Oh, let me introduce you. This is-"

"Rhiannon Áine Saggart," Tony cuts Steve off as he takes a step closer. "Yes, I know you. I've been trying to steal you from Fury for a couple of years now."

"Really?" I say, raising my eyebrows.

"I like to have the best of everything." Tony says with a shrug. A cater waiter passes by us, but not before Tony can grab three champagne glasses off the tray. He hands one to Steve and then flashes a grin at me as he hands me a flute. "And you, young one, are the best."

"Well, I can't argue with that," I say, earning a couple chuckles from Tony and Steve. We all lift our glasses for a silent toast before taking drinks.

"Good to see you up and walking though," Tony says. His face held an expression that he was ready to move on and mingle with others. "I think you scared the old man pretty good."

Neither me nor Steve say anything right away. "Yeah," I say with an awkward chuckle. "I think I prefer walking over lying in a hospital bed."

Tony nods his head. "Good observation. Well, I have got to mingle, so if you two kids need anything…let Pepper know." With a small salute, he melts into the crowd.

"I survived my first encounter with Tony Stark," I say. Steve shakes his head with a little chuckle as I down the last of my champagne in my flute. I grab other to replace the empty one as a waiter passes by.

"Does that warrant a drink?" Steve asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

I start to answer him, but stop when I see a figure approaching us. "No, but this might," I murmur so that only Steve could hear.

"Well if it isn't Little Techie!" The figure says way too loudly as he reaches us. General Colin Darby yanks me in for an awkward hug; thankfully Steve had grabbed my drink to save it from spilling. "How are you doing girl? I haven't seen you in forever!"

"General Darby," I say as he finally releases me. "It's good to see you. You're looking as handsome as ever."

"Oh, now don't flatter an old man," he says with a loud laugh. Suddenly, he looks over at Steve. "And you got Captain America as your date? Your old man would be proud of you."

I hold back a groan. "Thank you, sir."

"You better take care of her son," Darby says, pointing a finger at Steve. I could feel the bile rising in the back of my throat. I knew what was coming next. "She may not look it, but this little one has some fight in her."

I let out a nervous laugh. "I don't think Steve wants to hear about this, General."

"Of course he does," Darby says. It was obvious to me now that he had been drinking a little too much. "This girl right here," Darby says, pointing a fat finger towards me. "When ole Saggart was killed, this little one right here- you had to only be eighteen at the time- grabbed the pistol Saggart had tried to use against the bastard that shot him and shot at the guy herself!" Darby laughs loudly as I start to feel sick. I could feel Steve looking down at me. "Can you imagine? This little one shooting-"

I don't wait to hear anymore of Darby. I walk away, picking up speed as I make my way through the crowd. I could hear Steve yelling after me, but I keep walking and eventually break out in a run once I'm free from the crowd.

* * *

 _Steve's Point of View_

I let out a sigh of relief when I spot Rhiannon standing out on a balcony. When she had run away from the conversation earlier, I had lost track of her. The clueless General Darby didn't seem fazed by the fact that his story had obviously upset her. I was pretty sure as I was walking away from him that some security guards were escorting him out. "There you are," I say to Rhiannon as I walk out on the balcony. She doesn't turn to look at me, just continues to look down at the street below. When I'm standing next to her, I look down at her face and see her eyes are red-rimmed. I let out a sigh as I rest my hand on the middle of her back.

"They never caught the guy," Rhiannon finally says after a few minutes of silence. She sniffles once before continuing. "I don't know if Darby told you that or not, since he was in the mood to share my life story."

Obviously, Rhiannon had never told me this about her foster father. She had only ever told me that he had died when she was nineteen. "He didn't tell me that." I say. "But, Rhiannon, you know I got to ask why you never told me this-"

"I don't know Steve," she says, a new shake in her voice. "I just…I've never told anyone about it. I don't like to talk about it." I remove my hand from her back as she turns and walks back a couple steps and sits down on a small bench. I sit down next to her. "I came home for a visit one day, it was a surprise visit. Anyways, I walked into his study and there he was, on the ground, dead." She pauses her a moment to wipe away some tears. "The guy who did it was still in the room; he was doing something on his computer. I don't know what came over me, but I grabbed the gun that was in Daniel's hand and shot at the guy. It didn't faze him though, it just hit his shoulder and then he jumped out of a window. No one's ever figured out who he was. I swear I saw a glint of metal on his arm- it doesn't matter though." I don't speak yet, telling she still had more to say. "I always knew that Daniel wasn't my real dad…he always made that very clear when I was growing up. I'd call him Daniel, General, Sir…every now and then I'd call him Pops…but I always knew he wasn't my dad. Regardless, I still loved him. He took me in. How can I not love him for that?" I don't say anything; I couldn't form the words that would comfort her. "I guess, I just thought that if I never talked about this stuff, the stuff that's happened to me in the past, that no one would ever leave me again. Everyone…they're always taken from me…"

"Do you remember what I said to you, on that jet all those months ago?" I say to her. I grab one of her hands into mine as she looks at me. She nods her head weakly. "You've got me…I'm right here. People will leave…that's just part of life. And with what I do…" The words are left unspoken, but I knew that she knew what I was implying. "But right now…I'm here. And that's all that matters."

As she blinks rapidly, a few more tears fall from her eyes. "Steve Rogers," she whispers, reaching a hand up and letting it come to rest on my cheek. I always loved the feel of her hand on the side of my face. It was a comforted I had long forgotten. "I love you."


	12. Chapter 12

_Eighteen Months Later_

I could tell by the force that he set down his shield with, that Steve had not had a good night. "I didn't think you'd be awake," he says, coming up behind me.

A content sigh slips from my lips as I feel his arms snake around my waist. "You know I'm an early riser anyways," I say, leaning my head back against his shoulder. It was a little after five in the morning and Steve had just returned from a mission with Natasha. "Coffee?"

"Mmm, please," Steve says, planting a quick kiss on my temple. As his arms unwind from around my waist, I sneak a glance back at him as he goes to sit down at my little breakfast table. He was still in his uniform.

"Did you just get back?" Steve had gotten in the habit of trying to see me right after missions, but he usually changed out his uniform first.

"Yeah," he says with a heavy sigh. My lips purse of their own accord; something must have happened. "I've got to talk with Fury."

"Can you tell me what happened?" I say. As I walk over to the table, a coffee in each hand, he slowly shakes his head. "Figured not."

"What are you going in early for?" Steve asks before lifting the coffee mug to his lips. It slightly amused me to see him drinking coffee, since artificial caffeine did nothing to him.

"Fury's secret project for me," I say with a smirk. By this time, Steve knew I was working on Project Insight; except that he didn't. The project was so secret and locked down I couldn't tell him about it. He only knew that I was working on a project for Fury. Steve purses his lips slightly as he looks down at his mug. Fury must have done something to tick him off. "Okay, tell me what happened."

"I shouldn't," he says. "I'm just…I'm sick of Fury's lying. And all the secrets."

I nod my head before propping my chin in my hand. "It probably didn't help your mood when I mentioned the ultra-secret project he has me working on?"

"Well, I'm not jumping up to sing any Ink Spots," Steve says

"I can't see him keeping you out of the loop much longer," I say. "It's nearing completion anyways." Steve shakes his head as we both stand up from the table. "Want a ride to HQ?"

Steve nods his head, as he hands me my bag that was sitting nearer to him. "Nat dropped me off here," he says. "We're still on for tonight?"

I nod my head this time. "You betcha buddy," I say. "Tonight is the night Steven Grant Rogers will finally see Stars Wars. I feel like I've failed you, honestly. Having kept you from seeing them this long…" I continue on my tirade as we walk out the door.

* * *

"Looks like Fury let Rogers in on Project Insight," an agent next to me says. I look up from my tablet at the agent and follow his line of sight. Above us, on a platform, Steve and Fury were talking and then Steve walks away. Even from this distance I could tell that he was upset. "Cap doesn't look happy. Figured he wouldn't, the old-"

"I'm going to stop you right there agent," I say. The guy snaps his head around to look at me. I'm not sure he even realized that I was there. "As your C.O., I'm ordering you to stop speaking of Captain Rogers in that way."

"I- I-, um, I'm sorry ma'am," the guy stutters out. "I didn't realize it was you standing there. I was only making an-"

"And as a close friend of Captain Rogers," I lower my voice as I take a step closer to him. "Don't call him old." The agent nods his head fervently before saluting me. I nod once at him before turning and heading towards the platform that Fury was still standing on. As a general rule, Steve and I tried to keep our personal life out of work. I'm sure more people than we realized knew we were dating, but we both agreed that keeping things professional was best. "I'm not going to have to put up with a grumpy old man tonight…am I Director?" Of course, Fury knew of our relationship. Fury seemed to know everything.

Fury clasps his head behind his back as I come to a stop next to him. "I'm afraid you might," he says.

I wait for him to continue, but he doesn't. "Don't worry, I accept your apology. No big deal." Fury shakes his head a couple times. By now, he was used to my sometimes sarcastic attitude. "Anyways, I think my time is just about up with this. The security and defense systems are all almost completely implanted."

"And they're as strong as you promised?"

"We are all pretty much S.O.L. if these things take on a mind of their own because there is no way anyone can hack them or override any of the protocols," I say. Fury nods his head in approval. "I was wondering though, sir, since I am finished with my part of this, if I'm allowed to discuss it with Captain Rogers now?"

Fury lets out a long sigh as he stares out at the helicarriers. "It might be in your best interest if you wait a week. One week and then you're at liberty to discuss your role in Project Insight."

"Thank you sir," I say. "I'm going to try to go track down Captain Rogers before he leaves." Fury dismisses me as I walk towards the exit.

* * *

As I stand in the doorway, I watch Steve standing at the large locker. He was staring at something in the locker, his shoulders tense. "You know that I know you're there," Steve says, He turns around, the worry lines prominent on his forehead. Once he locks eyes with me, they smooth out some.

"I know," I say, stepping into the room.

"And you also know that it's rude to spy on people," he says. I could tell he wasn't as cross with me as he was trying to sound.

"I think at this point it doesn't really count as spying," I say, sitting down on the bench near where he was standing. "You're upset."

"Not so much upset," he says, sitting down next to me. "More…conflicted."

I nod my head. "Anything I can do to help?"

Steve reaches out and drapes an arm over my shoulder and pulls me close to his side. "I don't know," he says.

I let out a sigh as I lean my head against him. "Why don't you go talk to her?"

"I might," he says. By now, I almost encouraged Steve to go talk to Peggy Carter. It had bothered me a little at first, him going to see her (call it jealousy, I did). Now though, I was secure in my relationship with Steve to realize there were just somethings I couldn't relate to him with. I tried my best, I always did. Sometimes, however, he just needed that connection with his past.

We both stand up from the bench and Steve grabs his shield from the locker. I peek inside it and briefly see a glimpse of a picture of me hanging on the door. When he turns around, Steve raises an eyebrow at me, having caught me looking in his locker.

"I half expected to see pin-ups in there," I say, amusing Steve. "I know how you boys from the 40's are."

Steve shakes his head as we start towards the door. "Call me when you leave tonight." He says, shifting the conversation. "We'll have dinner at my place tonight."

"Sounds good," I say. Once we reach the lobby, I turn to face him. "I'll talk to you later…Captain Rogers."

"Looking forward to it, Miss Saggart," he gives me a quick wink before turning and walking towards the stairwell to the garage.

* * *

After a super long day, I was finally leaving work. Before I had a chance to call Steve though, my phone rings, flashing his name at the top. "Hey," I say, answering the phone. "I was just getting ready to-"

"I need you to get over to the hospital," Steve says in a rushed voice. In the background, I could hear the sound of sirens. "Now."

"What," I say, picking up my gait towards my car. "What's going on Steve? Ae you okay?"

"I'm fine," he says. "Fury's been shot."


	13. Chapter 13

" _Time of death, 11:04…"_ The words were ringing through my head as I stood next to Steve and watch as Natasha said her goodbyes to Nick Fury. I could see his body…I saw the doctor declare him dead…I just couldn't believe that it was true.

"They're ready to take him," Maria Hill says, coming up beside me and Steve. We both look at her before Steve walks up to Natasha. I look back at Hill, who had a couple tears trying to escape her eyes. Reaching out, I place a hand on her shoulder, trying to offer her some comfort. She gives me a grateful smile as Natasha and Steve both walk past us.

I follow them out into the hall as Steve calls out after Natasha. Once out in the hall, she stops and turns back to Steve, any grief that was in her eyes before was gone now. "Why was Fury in your apartment?" She asks him. I also turned to look at him. Despite having been at the hospital for a few hours, me and Steve hadn't talked much. I think we were both in too much shock.

Steve holds his arms out to the side, shaking his head. "I don't know." The lie was all over his face.

"Captain," another voice calls out for Steve before anyone can say anything. We all turn to see Agent Rumlow walking towards us. "They want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Okay, just give me a second," Steve says, starting to turn back towards Natasha.

That wasn't good enough for Rumlow though. "They want you now."

Steve turns to look at Rumlow. "Okay," he says, ending the conversation with the agent.

Rumlow nods his head once before turning to walk back down the hallway. We both turn to face Natasha, who just grins at Steve before pursing her lips. "You're a terrible liar." Instead of waiting for a response, she turns and walks away also. Steve lets out a sigh as he looks both ways down the hall.

"I'll just get a ride back to S.H.I.E.L.D. with you and Rumlow," I say, my voice thicker than I realized. Steve places his hands on his hips as he looks at me. "I'm sure there is something I'm supposed to do…protocols to change…"

Instead of saying anything, Steve reaches up and places both of his hands on my shoulders. He stares at me with a hard look. "I can trust you, right?" he says in a hushed tone.

My eyebrows mash together as I stare back at him. "Of course you can," I say. "Why would you even ask that?"

"I don't know," Steve says, shaking his head as he drops his hands. I reach up and run my thumb over his cheek. Something else had happened that he wasn't telling me about. "We'll talk about it later."

"Okay," I say, nodding my head. I drop my hand to my side as I turn and head towards Rumlow. A few seconds later, Steve falls in gait beside us.

Rumlow looks at both of us before speaking to the rest of the agents gathered in the hall. "S.T.R.I.K.E., let's move out."

* * *

"Miss Saggart," the unfamiliar voice from the doorway captures my attention. I look up and see Alexander Pierce standing there. "May I come in?"

"Of course," I say, standing up. He steps into my office, two S.T.R.I.K.E. agents filling the doorway behind him. Immediately I can feel something wasn't right. "What can I help you with Mr. Pierce…or, I mean Director Pierce?"

In Fury's absence, Pierce had been named director of S.H.I.E.L.D. "You aren't aware, are you? Of what just transpired above?"

"No sir," I say, shaking my head. My office was in some of the lower levels. "I've been down here switching the security protocols around, getting you in the system as director and all that."

Pierce just nods his head as Rumlow steps past the two agents in the doorway and into the office. "Captain Rogers is now a suspect in the murder of Fury-"

"Are you crazy?" I bark out. "I'm sorry sir, but seriously?"

"Captain Rogers is withholding important information in the murder of the former director," Pierce says. "By not sharing that…he's made himself a fugitive of S.H.I.E.L.D. Tell me Miss Saggart, when was the last time you spoke with Captain Rogers?"

"I'm not sure," I say, shaking my head. "Not since we got back here from the hospital. Like I said, I've been down here-"

"I'm going to have to ask that you surrender yourself for questioning," Pierce says, cutting me off. "Formally."

"Why?" I say, stepping out from behind my desk. "I don't know anything."

Pierce gives me a creepy (in my opinion) grin as Rumlow steps closer to me. Suddenly, the agent jerks both of my hands back behind my back and cuffs me. "Then what do you have to lose?"

* * *

"I told you- I didn't even know that Fury was in Captain Roger's apartment until right before the S.T.R.I.K.E. team brought us back here." It had been two hours that Jasper Sitwell had been interrogating me. Both of us were exhausted, but for different reasons. "And I still don't get why you don't believe me."

"Because you and Rogers have been intimate for over two years now," Sitwell says…again. "You are telling me that when he called you to come to the hospital that he didn't tell you what happened?"

"No," I say. "When I got there, all he said was that Fury had been shot and he wanted to keep me close, make sure I was okay."

"Well, isn't that sweet," Sitwell says, sarcasm dripping from his tone. "Considering he had just possibly shot Director Fury himself."

"Why in the hell would Steve shoot Fury?" I say back at him in a raised voice. "You know that makes zero sense. Captain America, shooting his C.O. for no apparent reason?"

"Just like it makes no sense that he told you nothing?" Sitwell fires back at me. I let out a heavy sigh as I hear the door to the interrogation room open. Sliding down in my chair, I rub at my eyes as Sitwell speaks to whoever had just walked in. "She's not telling anything-"

"Because there's nothing to tell!" I interject.

"Maybe you can get her to talk," Sitwell continues.

"Director Pierce told me to use whatever means necessary to get her to talk." Rumlow's voice captures my attention. My head spins around as I see him standing in front of the doorway that Sitwell walks out of. "Now, Miss Saggart," Rumlow says, walking towards me. One of his hands hovered over a device holstered to his hip. "I'm only going to ask once, nicely. What did Rogers tell you?"

I swallow hard as my eyes flit back up to his face. The look on his face told me everything. It didn't matter what I said, he was going to inflict pain. Maybe it was payback for Steve getting the jump on him in the elevator (Sitwell had told me about that); but it didn't matter…he was going to hurt me. "Like I told Sitwell," I say, my voice a lot less confident. "He didn't tell me anythi-"

Before I could even get the answer fully out, the back of his hand made solid contact with my face, sending me down to the ground. I tried in vain to back away from him by crawling under the table; but he easily flipped it over and hit me again, this time with something that had an electric current running through it. Once I stop shaking from the electric shock, I flip myself over and look up at my torturer. "Let's try this again…"

Finally, after another two hours of getting beat on by Rumlow, he leaves the room. I lay in the corner of the room, a sweaty bloody mess. I don't even notice when the door opens again until the person speaks up. "Holy shit," they say under their breath. I look up and try to see them through my fast swelling eye. Faintly, I see Maria Hill crouching down in front of me. "Saggart, are you okay?"

"Do I look like it?" I say after spitting out some blood.

"I know, dumb question," she mumbles. "Can you walk at least?"

"I can try," I say. I grab onto one of her hands as she helps hoist me to my feet. Everything hurt even more when I stood.

"Come on," she says, starting to steer me towards the door. "We've got five minutes to get you out of here."

"Where are we going?" I ask, my speech slightly garbled.

A humorless chuckle escapes her as she halfway carries me out of the room. "You won't believe me…"


	14. Chapter 14

I sit in the chair across from the hospital bed, staring at the man lying in it. I couldn't believe that Fury was alive. Fury was alive. Fury had faked his freaking death and he was freaking alive. I'm broken out of my thoughts though by the doctor pressing an alcohol soaked cotton ball to the cut above my eye. "Rumlow gave you one hell of a beating," Fury says, watching the doctor cleaning me up.

"Seems like you got a worse one," I say, my speech still a little obscured. One of my cheekbones was swollen, no doubt it was cracked. "What's going on Fury?"

The former director lets out grunt as he tries to straighten himself in the bed. "Project Insight is dirty…S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised…pretty much everything is going to hell in a handbasket. Hill's gone to try and collect Rogers and Romanov…see what they know."

"Woah, woah, woah," I say, pushing the doctor's hands away from my face. I stand up from the chair and walk towards Fury. "What do you mean Insight is dirty?"

"I'm not sure how deep it goes yet," Fury says. The doctor comes up next to me, muttering about how he needs to stop the bleeding. "But I'm hoping you were exaggerating on how strong your security protocols were."

"I wasn't!" I yell at him. My breath was coming too heavy; my ears were ringing. "What did we do?"

Fury shakes his head in answer. "We'll know more once Rogers gets here." He says.

"We need to get you patched up," the doctor says, trying to pull me from the room. My eyes, or rather eye, the one that wasn't swollen shut, stay wide and trained on Nick as I slowly back up towards the door. "And maybe something to calm you down…"

* * *

Over the next couple of days, I use what rudimentary tech Fury has at the hideout to try and find a way to gain control of the Insight carriers. Nothing was working though. I had done my job too well. I knew what the carriers were meant for, but if they were dirty…who knows what they were actually built for. "Rhiannon," the doctor pokes his head into my work station. "Agent Hill just arrived with Captain Rogers and Romanov."

"Thank you," I say, nodding my head. "I'll be out shortly." The doctor nods his head before walking away. I had holed myself up in this room over the last few hours, finally having figured out a way to stop the carriers. It was a long shot, but I had a good feeling that they would work. I felt like a zombie, placing the last blade in the little suitcase. I was numb inside. So many emotions were running through me that they were canceling each other out. I walk over to the lone dirty mirror in the room and look at myself as I try to scrape my hair back into a ponytail. It was easy to tell I had been beat to hell, even though it had been days. My eye was a deep purple, my cheek still puffy, split lip, and I looked like I had barely gotten any sleep over the last few days…which I hadn't. Normally, I thought to myself, I probably wouldn't have wanted Steve to see me like this. I knew it would upset him, or at least I hoped it would. But I hadn't heard a peep from him the last few days, so I didn't know what to expect from him.

A few minutes later, I walk out of the room and head to where I think the group would be meeting. As I approach the room, sure enough, I hear Fury's voice. "It's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

There was a pause before I hear Natasha's voice. "We've got to stop the launch."

"It's impossible," I say, walking into the room. All of the heads in the rooms turn towards me, but I avoid everyone's gaze. Someone mutters how I look like hell. "There's no way to stop the launch."

"Saggart, just the hacker we need," Natasha's voice had a little more pep in it.

"Apparently you didn't hear me," I snap at her. I still avoid everyone's gaze as I stop and stand between Fury and Hill. I stare at a spot on the table as I sit the small case on the table. "There is no way to stop those carriers from launching because there is no way to get past their security protocols."

"Have you tried?" Steve asks.

I finally look over at him. Pain was all over his face. "I don't have to," I say, my voice quieting. "I wrote the codes."

"Shit," Natasha mutters under her breath. "So there's no way to hack our way in."

"No," I say, shaking my head. A few tears fall from my eyes as I look down at the case under my hands. "But I think I have a different solution." I open the case and turn it so the rest of the group around the table could see the contents.

"What's that?" The lone man in the room I don't recognize asks.

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized." Hill says. She had helped me develop the targeting blades.

"You'll need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." I say, pointing at each of the blades. "One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational…" I trail off, shaking my head. I felt like I was about to break.

"A whole lot of people are gonna die." Hill finishes.

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA." Fury says. I walk away from the table a few steps. The emotions in me were swirling around even faster. Seeing this team standing around the table was heaping the guilt on me. "We need to get past them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left-"

"We're not salvaging anything," Steve cuts Fury off. I turn around sharply to stare at him. Everyone was looking at Steve with confused looks. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with it." Fury fires back at Steve.

I let out a non-believing chortle. "You gave me this mission, this is how it ends." Steve says. I watch him as he draws himself up, becoming every bit Captain America. "S.H.I.E.L.D's been compromised, you've said so yourself. HYDRA was right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed." Nick was scrambling to change Steve's mind.

"And how many paid the price before you did?" Steve says evenly. I could feel almost every pair of eyes cut to me for the briefest of seconds.

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes." Fury says, shaking his head in shame. I believed he honestly did feel bad about Bucky Barnes being the Winter Soldier.

"Even if you had, would you have told me?" Steve says. "Or would you have compartmentalized that too? S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, it all goes."

At that moment, I see Steve in a different light. What did he think of me? The role I played in Project Insight? He would hardly look at me. "He's right." I say quietly when no one else speaks up. I walk back over and stand at the table.

Fury looks around at Maria and then Natasha, who both nod their heads. Then, he turns to the guy I don't know. "Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower."

"Well..." Fury says, admitting defeat. He leans back in his chair and looks back and at Steve. "Looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

Steve nods his head, looking back down at the table. "Okay," Natasha says. "Since no one else is going to ask, what the hell happened to you Saggart?"

Yet again, I feel all eyes on me, the bruise on my face, the bandages covering the burn marks. I lock eyes with the spy, trying to siphon some of her strength into myself. "Pierce had me interrogated." I say. Natasha's lips purse. "They wanted to know what I knew…which was nothing of course. They held me for four hours."

Despite the heavy atmosphere, a corner of Natasha's mouth quirks up. "I think they knew you didn't know anything."

"Yeah," I say, finally breaking eye contact with her. For some reason, in that instant, anger towards Steve swells up inside me. I turn my head sharply and lock eyes with him. "I figured that out once Rumlow came in and took over for Sitwell." The pain crosses Steve's eyes as anger dominates all my other senses. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to go change my bandages."

I really didn't, I just wanted to get out of that room…away from Steve. "Rhiannon," I hear as I walk down the hallway. I ignore Steve's voice and continue walking. "Rhiannon," he calls again. He says my name a couple more times until he's finally next to me. "Rhiannon, hold on a minute."

"Leave me alone Steve," I say through my teeth. I walk into my make-shift bedroom and try to shut the door behind me, but Steve stops it and walks in behind me. "I said leave me alone!"

The anger in me, mainly at myself, had taken over my entire body; and for some reason I was directing it at Steve. "Just talk to me," Steve says. He moves to reach out and grab my hand, but I recoil away from him.

"Don't," I say, backing up farther into the room. "Do not touch me."

"Okay, okay," he says, holding his hands up. "I won't."

"You just- Steve, you just-" So many emotions were bubbling up in me, I felt as if I were losing my mind. "You left me!" I yell at him. The floodwall holding all of those emotions back broke down…and it was unloading right onto Steve. "You just left me! Without a single word, you just left me behind! And I haven't heard from you in two days! Two days Steve! I was beat to a pulp just because I'm close to you! You did this to me! I did this to myself! I created the security protocols for Insight! It's my fault you all are going to have to risk yourselves to stop them! It's my fault! I did this!" I was in hysterics, having a mental break. Steve ignores my order not to touch me earlier and grabs me into his arms. I try to fight against him for a few seconds but then break down into uncontrollable sobs. He holds me…I have no clue how long. Eventually, he picks me up and sits us both down on the edge of the makeshift bed.

Once my sobs start to subside, I hear him saying over and over again "I'm so sorry Rhiannon, I'm so sorry." Hearing the words, something snaps in my…and not like the time before. "No," I say, shaking my head. I push his arms away from me and sit up straight to look at him. "Steve, you don't have to apologize. This isn't the time-"

"But, you-"

"No," I cut him off by shaking my head. I grab his hands in mine. "This isn't the time for us to have our own breakdowns. There is something way bigger than the two of us going on in the world and we're both in a position to stop it-"

"You are my world, Rhiannon." Steve's words stop me. He had, of course, declared his love for me numerous times over the last couple years, but he's never said anything like that. With such declaration in his voice, it took me back. "The rest can…it can wait. For you and only you."

I lean and gingerly press my lips to Steve's. "I love you too Steve," I say quietly once we break apart. "But there won't be a me or you if we don't stop HYDRA."

* * *

"I'm serious Sam," I say again. "Anytime you want to come over, I will cook a good, down-home meal for you."

Sam shakes his head as he laughs a little. Currently, him, Steve, Maria, and I were riding in a decrepit van towards S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. "What's the catch? I can practically see the 'if' on the end of that statement."

"Just…" I say with a shrug. "You know…bring over your wings and let me-"

"No way," Sam says. "No one touches the wings."

"Alright you two," Steve says. We both quiet down like children being scolded. "Let's go over the plan one more time."

"The four of us will infiltrate the Comm Room, Cap will drop the HYDRA truth bomb," Sam says.

"Hill and I will be standing by, waiting while Sam and Steve switch out the targeting blades," I say next.

"Once Fury arrives, Saggart will make her way up to the World Security Council and help Romanov dump all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets," Hill finishes.

"Which will, again, feel weird to me since it was my job to keep all of those secret," I say. I feel Steve's hand come to rest on my upper back, giving it a pat.

"Here," Sam says. I look across the van at him again and see that he's holding a gun out towards me. "I always keep an extra on me, just in case." I gingerly grab it and stare at it. "I'm assuming you've shot one before."

"Yeah, I have," I say. "Just, not since-" I shake my head, trying to clear away the memory. "I'm good. Thank you Sam." I feel Steve's eyes on me as I turn to look at him. His eyes were asking if I was okay. I nod my head again as I tuck the gun into the holster on my hip.

"Alright," Maria says. The van lurches to a stop. "We're here."

* * *

" _Shit,"_ I mutter seeing that someone has overridden the launch time.

"They're initiating launch," Maria says to Steve and Sam over the comms.

"I'm going to head up to Romanov now," I say.

Hill is immediately apprehensive. "I don't think-"

"The whole timeframe has moved up," I say, standing up from the console.

"You're right," Maria says. "Good luck."

I nod my head once at her before heading out of the room. My task now was to get up forty floors without being seen…or worse.


	15. Chapter 15

Somehow…by divine intervention I suppose, I was able to make it to the Security Council. I stop before going in, hearing the sounds of fighting. " _I'm sorry, did I step on your moment?"_ I hear Natasha say.

"So, I came to the party early," I say over comms, knowing Natasha would hear. "Mind if I join?"

"Not at all," she answers. I quickly punch in a code to override the lock on the door and walk in.

"Miss Saggart," Pierce says, seeing me walk in. "So nice of you to join us. I should've known you'd be lurking around somewhere."

"Wish I could say the same to you," I say, walking over to the computer. Natasha continues to hold Pierce at gunpoint as I try to login to the system. "Well, I see you've deleted me from the system."

"You were a fugitive from S.H.I.E.L.D." he says. "Attacking Rumlow during your interrogation will earn you that."

I let out a loud laugh as I gain entry with another record. "You really are as dumb as you look," I say. I turn and look at the other council members standing around, not sure what they should be doing. "And just so you all know…I did not attack Rumlow, in case you were wondering." Once I gain entry to the system, I get to work. One of the council members takes the gun from Natasha and keeps it pointed at Pierce while she comes over to join me. Once I have all the security protocols disabled, we set to work.

"What are you all doing?" Councilman Rockwell asks.

"They're disabling the security protocols and dumping all of the secrets onto the internet," Pierce answers. He takes a few steps towards us, the councilman following behind.

"Including HYDRA's," I say.

"And S.H.I.E.L.D's." Pierce says. Natasha pauses in her typing. "If you do this, none of your past is gonna remain hidden." Her gaze turns to Pierce as she starts typing again. "Are you sure you're ready for the world to see you as you really are?"

"Are you?" Natasha counters.

We continue on, no one saying anything as me and Natasha continue working. I could vaguely hear Sam, Steve, and Maria over my comms unit, but I had it turned down so I could focus. Finally, we were as far as we could go.

"Disabling the encryption is an executive order," Pierce says. "It takes two Alpha Level members."

"Don't worry," I say, giving Pierce an ironic smile.

"Company's coming." Natasha finishes. Everyone in the room turns to look outside as a helicopter touches down. Fury steps out of the helicopter and walks inside, looking every bit the director he always had. Everyone in the room was wearing shocked stares.

Fury walks inside, stopping in front of Pierce. "Did you get my flowers?" I roll my eyes as Fury just stares at Pierce with an icy glare. "I'm glad you're here, Nick."

"Really? Cause I thought you had me killed."

"You know how the game works." Pierce says, brushing off the comment.

"So why make me head of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Fury asks. He was visibly pissed off at Pierce.

"Cause you're the best and the most ruthless person I ever met." Pierce answers.

A hint of betrayal crosses Fury's face. "I did what I did to protect people."

"Our enemies are your enemies, Nick. Disorder, war." Pierce says. "It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago. Diplomacy? Holding action, a band-aid. And you know where I learned that; Bogota. You didn't ask, you just did what had to be done. I can bring order to the lives of seven billion people by sacrificing twenty million. It's the next step, Nick, if you have the courage to take it."

"No, I have the courage not to." Fury grabs Pierce by the arm and drags him over to stand in front of the retinal scanner.

I press a button, pulling up the retinal scanner. "Retinal scanner active." The computer system chimes out.

"Don't you think we wiped your clearance from the system?" Pierce says, a smug smile on his face.

Natasha moves towards the two men, aiming another gun at Pierce. "I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary..." Fury says. He leans in towards Pierce as he lifts up his eye patch. "You need to keep both eyes open." Both men turn and have their eyes scanned. Within seconds, all of the secrets S.H.I.E.L.D. had tasked me to protect and the ones that HYDRA had hidden away were flooding the internet.

We all stand around, waiting and watching the screen in the middle of the room as the secrets pour onto the internet. Over the comms, I hear Hill say that Rumlow was heading up our way. Sam said he had him though. Within a minute, it was completed "Done." I say. Reaching up, I slightly turn up the volume of my comms piece.

I look over at Natasha who looks down at her mobile device. "And it's trending." Out of the corner of my eye, I barely notice Pierce grab his cell phone that was sitting on the table. As I turn my head, he pushes a button on it. The remaining council members all grab their chests as the pins on them burn large holes into their chests.

Natasha and Fury both brandish guns and point them at Pierce, who looks straight at Natasha. "Unless you want two inch hole in your sternum, I'd put that gun down." Natasha doesn't move, but I follow Pierce's eye sight to see that Natasha was wearing one of the pins. "That was armed the moment you pinned it on." After a beat, they both reluctantly lower their guns and drop them to the ground. I stay behind the computer, angling myself so Pierce couldn't see the gun holstered on my hip. Pierce turns towards where I was standing to look at me. "Be a dear and pull up the linkage to the carriers. I'm sure you know how." I hesitate for a second, but then remember the switch he holds in his hand that could kill Natasha. Within a second, I have it pulled up. Pierce walks over to me and stands behind the computer. He motions with his head for me to go stand next to Fury and Natasha. "Lieutenant, how much longer?" Pierce says into a small microphone connected to the computer.

A voice responds to him overhead. "Sixty-five seconds to satellite link. Target reengaged. Lowering weapons array now."

My heart starts to race as I count in my head. " _Thirty seconds Cap,"_ Maria's voice says in my head. I hear Steve respond with a strained " _Standby."_ Was he hurt? Why did he sound like that? The targets start to light up on the screen, I notice that me and the two I was standing next to were zoned in on. A second after it hits the one minute mark my heart stops, the last blade wasn't in. Then, in a flash, all of the targets disappear. " _Charlie lock."_ Steve's tired voice says in my ear. The target number then flashes three, each of the carriers locking in on each other. Maria Hill's voice rings in my ear again, _"Okay Cap, get out of there."_ Then there was silence in my ear. I stand frozen to the spot. Why did my comms just go out? What was going on? Did Steve get out of there?

Fury, Natasha, and I watch as Pierce moves away from the computer and towards the window. Over the Potomac, we see the carriers start firing on one another. As we watch, a slightly smug grin flashes across my face for a second before dread fills me… _what if Steve was still on one of those…_

"What a waste," Pierce says. I turn around to look at him, anger all over his face.

"You still on the fence about Rogers' chances?" Natasha asks. The smugness was evident in her voice.

"Time to go, councilwoman, this way," Pierce, still holding the phone with the kill switch in his hands, motions for Natasha to come with him. "Come on. You're going to fly me out of here."

I watch them as they start to walk towards the door before looking back at Fury. "You know, there was a time I would've taken a bullet for you." Fury says, still watching the carriers.

"You already did," Pierce says. "And will when it's useful-" I turn back to him and Natasha in time to see Natasha press a small disc between her fingers. Electricity courses over her body, shorting out the pin and unarming it. Pierce watches in almost disbelief as Natasha falls to the ground. Using the distraction, I pull the gun from my hip and cock it. Pierce hears it and turns just in time to watch me as I hit him in the abdomen. Fury, who had grabbed a gun from an unconscious guard, lands the kill shot in Pierce's chest.

Both of us run over to Natasha, who was laying on the ground unconscious. I pull the pin off her chest and toss it across the room and Fury tries to stir her. After a second, Natasha slowly opens her eyes. "Ow," was her way of telling us she was okay. "Those really do sting."

"Come on," Fury says as we both pull her to her feet. "We got to get going." After a second of getting her bearings about herself, the three of us make our way out to the helicopter.

"My comms is out." I tell Natasha as Fury starts the helicopter. I thought hers might be as well.

She doesn't say anything though, just purses her lips as the helicopter lifts into the air. I reach to grab a headset, but she stops me as she puts on her own. "Sam, where are you?" she yells over the wind. Sam must respond, because Fury takes a hard right and heads towards the northwest corner of the building. "We're on our way, stay where you are!" she tells him. As we near it, we see one of the helicarriers crashing into the building. Fury hovers near the building for a second and then tips the helicopter as we see Sam come jumping out of a wind. Half a second later, he was in the helicopter. I, along with Natasha, grab onto any part of Sam that we could to keep him from falling out the other side. "Forty-first! Forty-first!" Sam yells at Fury as the former director flies away from the building. I don't hear Fury's response, since I'm apparently not allowed to wear the headset.

"Hill! Where's Steve? You got a location on Rogers?" I hear Natasha say into her headset. I watch her as I assume Hill responds. Her expression remains blank. "Circle around the bay," she tells Fury. "Keep an eye out for him."

"Where is he?" I yell over the wind. She doesn't say anything to me, just moves to look out one side of the helicopter. "Natasha!" I yell, trying to pull her back to look at me. "What's going on? Why is my comms down? Why isn't anyone telling me anything?"

In the back of my mind, I knew what was going on. Maybe I just didn't want to admit it to myself. Sam pulls me back against the seat though, away from Natasha. "Rogers had Hill put a switch in your comms," he tells me.

"What?!"

"Wilson!" Natasha chastises him.

"She deserves to know; she'll find out sooner or later," he fires back at Natasha. The super spy doesn't say anything, just keeps looking out the side of the helicopter. "Rogers had Hill put a switch on your comms that he could control and turn off if things weren't looking good for him." My mouth goes dry and I swear my heart stops. "This doesn't mean that he's…" Sam doesn't finish the statement though.

I sit back in the seat as Sam moves to look out the other side of the helicopter. I was numb. I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. Every sense in me and every thought in my head was dominated by Steve. _Steve. Steve please be okay. Please be okay. Be okay._

We circle around the area for about five minutes until Natasha finally yells over the wind. "A team just found him on the bank of the Potomac. They're bringing him to the hospital."


	16. Chapter 16

I hadn't even realized I had dozed off until Natasha's arm brushes against mine as she sits down in a chair next to me. I look over at her and raise an eyebrow. "I thought they were admitting you?"

Natasha rolls her eyes as she hands me a cup of coffee. I greedily take it from her. "Like that was ever actually going to happen. Have you found out anything about Rogers?"

I shake my head as I swallow some of the caffeinated liquid. "No. He's still in surgery. The PA came out a little bit ago and said that the bullet wounds aren't as extensive as they had originally thought."

"They're mainly concerned about that nasty-ass river giving him an infection," Sam says from the other side of me. I had thought he was asleep.

"Not exactly," I say. "He is a little tougher than the usual trauma victim that rolls in. But at the same time-"

"He's not like every trauma victim that rolls in here," Natasha says. A silence settles over us in the waiting room as I sip on my coffee some more. "How about you? How are you holding up?"

"Like crap," I say with a snort. I hadn't meant to say that; it came out before I could stop it. "I'm fine. I have to be."

"You know that none of this was your fault…right?" Natasha says.

I swear…it was like she could read minds. "It really doesn't feel that way when my boyfriend is back in surgery right now." I shake my head and stare down at my coffee. "I wrote those security protocols. I didn't even ask what they were for, what Insight was. I just did it. And now-"

"Stop," Natasha says. My head turns of its own accord to look at her. "You do not get to blame yourself for this. This is not your blame to carry."

I let out a sigh before downing the last of the coffee. "Well I need someone to blame," I say. I stand up, my legs starting to feel stiff. "Did anyone ever catch him?"

I don't need to say who…Natasha and Sam already knew who I was talking about. "No," Sam says. "He's in the wind."

"And it really was Bucky?" I pace in front of the two of them; the caffeine from the coffee starting to course through my veins. Steve had told me numerous times about Bucky. In my mind, I practically considered him Steve's brother.

"Yup," Sam says, shutting his eyes again and leaning his head back. "Metal arm and all-"

"Wait," I stop in front of Sam and lightly kick his foot. "Did you say 'metal arm'?"

"Yeah," Sam raises an eye brow at me. "Why?"

"Oh my god…oh my god…" I sink down into a chair across from Natasha and Sam. "Bucky…the- Winter Soldier? He has a metal arm?" They both confirm that fact and then ask again what's wrong. "Daniel…my foster father…he- the Winter Soldier killed him."

* * *

"It'll be up to him when he wakes up," the doctor says. I nod my head, staring straight at Steve lying in the hospital bed. "We've never had a patient like Captain Rogers so…we had to give him a high dosage of sedative to get him through the surgery. We're not sure how long it will take him to burn it off."

"Thank you." I walk over to stand by Steve's bedside as Sam and Natasha also mutter their thanks. The doctor walks out of the room and leaves the four of us alone. I look down at Steve and take his hand into mine. How could someone so big look so small in a hospital bed. He took up most of the bed, but he looked so small. "If I had to guess, he'll probably burn off the medicine quickly. Sped up metabolism and all."

"I got to go," Natasha says. I turn to look at and raise an eyebrow at her. "Congressional hearings. Can't take down an intelligence taskforce with ruffling a few feathers."

"Wonder when they'll call me in," I say, shaking my head.

"Doubt they ever will," Natasha says. "Daughter of the great General Saggart and favorite of Fury? They probably don't even know you were there."

Natasha walks out of the room before I can say anything. I drop the subject though; a congressional hearing did not sound like something I'd want to do. "You're staying, aren't you?" I ask Sam.

He raises an eyebrow at me as he moves to stand on the other side of the bed. "You want me to?"

I nod my head. "I mean, I don't expect you to hold his hand or anything…" Sam chuckles quietly as he shakes his head. "But, as someone who spent a considerable amount of time in the hospital…it's nice to have a person…or people that care about you around."

"Alright then," Sam says. I settle myself in a chair on the right side of Steve, in front of all the intravenous pumps. Sam asks if I would mind if he turned on some music; I tell him it wouldn't bother me. A minute later, the sound Marvin Gaye's _Trouble Man_ soundtrack fills the air. Over the next couple of hours, the armed guards that were posted outside of Steve's room bring in a few bouquets of flowers. Mainly they were from high-ranked officials, such as the President, but one was just signed _NJF._ An easy silence settles over the room, neither me nor Sam doze off though. Sam occupies his time with the newspaper, no doubt pouring over all the stories about the events the day before. I occupy myself with my laptop recovered from my office by Hill.

Turns out my old colleagues from New York, Alex and Tim, were both HYDRA. I had yet to get back to my apartment here in D.C., but from what Fury had told me, it had been bugged; no doubt HYDRA had ransacked it once I disappeared after my "interrogation". After a few emails, it seemed all the properties that Daniel had left me were okay. Now that I didn't have S.H.I.E.L.D. any more, I may have to utilize one of them…maybe the New York property again. I already had an email for a job offer from Tony Stark.

As I'm browsing some of the files that had been released from S.H.I.E.L.D. about me, a voice I had been waiting to hear all day and night finally speaks. "On your left," Steve's voice says weakly. Sam and I both turn our heads to see Steve awake. He was in the process of turning his head from looking at Sam to looking over at me. "Hey," he says weakly once he makes eye contact with me.

"Hey," I say. I shut the laptop and sit it to the side as I stand up and take the couple of steps over to Steve. "You woke up a lot more gracefully than I did when it was me in this bed." I say with a laugh as I sit on the edge of the bed.

Steve nods his head a couple of times before leaning it back against the pillows again. His hand flops, in the literal since, into my lap. I grab it into mine. The sedatives must still be in his system some, because he looks dog-tired. "You both okay?"

"Yeah, man," Sam says, standing up to come stand on the other side of the bed. "We're good. According to Fury, your girl was the one to take down Pierce."

I shake my head as one of Steve's eyes opens and looks at me. "I didn't- well, I did shoot him, but- you know what," I say, shaking my head again as a smile grows on my face. Even Steve was attempting to smirk at me. "Why don't you get some rest? You still look exhausted."

A single chuckle rumbles Steve chest before he flinches in pain. "I think I am heading that way," he says. "But I have to tell you something." I ask him what it is. A million different ideas of what it could be ran through my mind. Steve's hand slightly tightens around mine before a small grin graces his features. "I broke that laptop on purpose…"


	17. Chapter 17

_Thirteen Months Later_

"You wanted to see me?" Clint asks as he comes into my office. Well, it wasn't really an office, more of an entire floor that Tony had given me for "office space". He had assured me it wasn't an entire floor of the Tower, but it was big enough to be.

"Yes," I say. Clint nods his head as he plops down in one of the couches near my work station. I grab a file I had printed off the internet before walking over and handing it to him. "I came across this, while going through some of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s old files. I do that when I have some free time-"

"You and I have a very different view on 'free time'-"

"Anyway, I assume you want to keep this off the books?" I hand him the file. He briefly scans it, his lips pressing together in a hard line. "I know it doesn't really tell anything, but it still lists the property under-"

"I thought Fury got rid of all traces of this?" Clint asks. He was visibly pissed off.

"He did. As I said, it just lists the property as under your parents' ownership. It must have been from when you first started with S.H.I.E.L.D." I say. He was visibly starting to relax. "But, I think if someone were desperate enough…"

"Yeah," Clint nods his head as he folds the file and sticks it in his coat. "I want to keep that off the books. Is there any way you can-"

"Already wiped." I say. "Zero traces it ever even existed."

"Thanks kid," he says. Clint stands up from the couch and starts to head towards the door. I follow, walking beside him. "Rogers having any luck with finding-"

"We do not talk about that," I say, cutting him off. Clint arches an eyebrow at me as we both step onto the elevator. I tell him I'm heading down to the lab. "I'm not really too keen on the idea of him finding the guy that killed my foster father." I explain. Bucky was a sore subject for Steve and me. I could understand why he would want to find him. However, I still couldn't get past the image of Daniel lying in a pool of his own blood by the Winter Soldier's hand.

"Ah," Clint says, nodding his head. "Avoidance…yeah, that's never a good idea."

"I know." Letting out a sigh, I watch the numbers rise as the elevator does. "But when you're as determined as Steve and as stubborn as me…there's not much choice."

Clint shrugs his shoulder as the elevator comes to a stop. "I'm not going to play relationship counselor to you two…but not talking is never a good idea."

I have to let out a laugh. I was sure Clint was probably actually the best person to go to for relationship advice, being the only person on the team with any sort of real experience in it. "Well, if you want to tell Steve he's being an idiot and that I'm right…I wouldn't complain." Clint lets out his own chuckle as I step off the elevator. He gives me a small wave before the doors shut. As I walk towards the lab, I see Steve, Bruce, and Tony all three looking at a map. "Morning boys," I say, grabbing their attention as I enter the lab.

All three of them turn to look at me, returning the greeting, except Steve who walks over towards me. "Morning," he says, stopping in front of me. I go up on my toes and plant a kiss on his lips.

"This is a sterile area," Tony says. I roll my eyes as I lower myself back down. "I've told you guys before about making out in my lab."

"First of all," I say, walking over to the other two men with Steve. "We were not making out. Second, technically it's Bruce's lab. And third…"

Tony looks at me, raising both of his eyebrows. "I'm waiting."

"I ran out of points." I wave a hand in the air as if expelling the topic. "Anyway, I've got a new tracking system, if you guys want to give it a try."

Bruce takes the drive in my hand and plugs it into his bank of computers. "When do you find the time to write these?" he asks. "This is the third one this month-"

"Well, it helps when your boyfriend is gone a good portion of the week," I say. I hear Steve let out a heavy sigh next to me. "Oops, sorry, I'm supposed to say 'Having JARVIS really helps expedite the process'."

"We all know that JARVIS didn't help you write this," Tony says, working alongside Bruce on the system. I roll my eyes as I perch myself on a stool and watch the men work in the middle of the room. I loved the holographic screens Tony had. "Hey Cap, if you want you're welcome to use my new tracking system that my cyber security girl wrote to find your friend."

"I better not," Steve says. It was like he could feel the daggers I was staring at the back of his head. "Thank you for the offer though."

Tony mumbles something under his breath. Working with the Avengers, it really had become like a dysfunctional family. Pretty much everyone knew everyone's business. Maria Hill and I were the only ones that did not officially live at the Tower. Steve "officially" lived at the Tower, but more often than not he stayed the night at my apartment that was conveniently located two blocks away. I still hadn't convinced him to fully move in yet…his old-fashioned values and all. "So, has planning began on Tony Stark's Christmas Extravaganza or whatever you're calling it this year?" Tony always had a huge Christmas party every year…except last year. I had attended a couple in my youth with Daniel.

"It has," Tony says, fully engrossed in the program. "But from my understanding…you won't be here for it anyway."

My eyebrows scrunch together. "What?"

Steve lets out another sigh as he turns towards me. "I was going to talk to you about this later…"

"Oh," I say. I stare up at Steve. "Do we…is this something you want to discuss now?"

"Yeah," Steve says. "I guess we can."

"Okay," I nod my head as I stand up. "Let's head up to my office." Steve follows me out of the lab, leaving Tony and Bruce to work with the tracking system, trying to find Loki's Scepter. Once we reach my office, I perch myself on one of the arms of one of the couches. "Okay…honesty time, I'm actually a little nervous about what you want to talk to me about."

"I know you are," Steve says, coming to stand in front of me. "Stark really needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. I promise you…it's nothing bad." I nod my head, silently telling him to continue. "Look, I know you haven't been…thrilled about me trying to find Bucky- " My nostrils flare a little. "Don't get mad at me…let me finish. Anyway, I was thinking that for the holidays…maybe we could go somewhere."

My jaw visibly hits the floor. "What?"

"I was thinking that for a couple of weeks, just me and you, could get away for awhile." Steve says. "We have time to decide, but I just thought it might be nice if we both got away for a little bi-"

"Woah, whoa, whoa," I say, holding my hands up. I stand up straight and stare at Steve with wide eyes. "Are you, Steven Grant Rogers, the man I've been trying to get to go on any sort of vacation for the last three years…proposing a vacation?"

Steve nods his head. "Things are kind of in a lull right now," he says. "And I figured I owed you one. We'd need to be prepared for the possibility, though, that we'd need to- " I don't let him finish as I let out a squeal and jump into his arms. Steve catches me as I wrap my legs around his waist. "So, I guess that's a yes?"

Instead of answering him, I plant kisses all over his face. "Yes," I finally answer him. "That is most definitely a yes." I smile largely at him before diving in for a very passionate kiss. "And," I say, after pulling away. "I know the perfect place for us to go."


	18. Chapter 18

"Exactly how many properties did General Saggart leave you?" Steve asks.

I shrug a shoulder as I turn down a dirt road. "Well, there's this one, the one in D.C., New York, one in Tennessee, Malibu, the Hamptons, and one in Paris." I say. "He liked to invest in property. Came from old money and all that."

"And all of these are just sitting vacant?"

"No," I say, shaking my head. "Well, you know the one in D.C. is, I'm actually trying to sell that one. I'm renting out the ones in Tennessee and Paris. So only this one, the Hamptons house, and the one in Malibu really ever sit vacant. I'm actually considering selling the one in Malibu. I haven't been out there since I was little anyways."

"Wow," I glance over at Steve and see him shaking his head.

"I know," I say. My grip on the wheel tightens a bit. I sometimes forgot that Steve grew up a poor kid in Brooklyn. I knew that I grew more privileged than most. "We're almost there."

Steve nods his head and we ride in silence for the remainder of the trip. It wasn't a long ride, though. About ten minutes later, I turn a corner and the lake house comes into view. The lake house, which was about a thirty-minute drive from Saint Agatha, Maine, sat on the edge of Long Lake. It had to be my favorite house that my foster father had ever owned; a large log cabin with two stories and a finished walk out basement. The back side of the house had a large, vaulted window that overlooked the lake. I park the car in front of the garage, the opener for the two car garage was kept here when the house wasn't in use. "Wow…this is…" Steve says as we both get out of the car.

"It's my favorite one that the General had," I say. "The lake is straight walk down from the patio in back. Other than that…it's pretty secluded."

"I like it," Steve says. I smile at him as he gets out bags out of the car. We walk in silence across the gravel until a rumbling of an old truck breaks the silence around us. "Who's that?"

I squint for a second as the truck comes into view on the gravel drive. "That would be Cliff," I say, immediately recognizing the old Ford truck. "He and his wife keep an eye on the place. They live about ten miles away." Steve nods his head as he sits the bags down on the steps of the porch before both of us turn and walk towards the now parked truck. "Hello sir." I greet him as he gets out of the truck.

"Miss Saggart," he returns the greeting with a tip of his ball cap. "Vivi got your email last week. House should be set up for you." Cliff was a no nonsense World War Two veteran. According to my foster father, Cliff had joined the war in 1944 when he was only sixteen years old, faking his age. He always got right to the point when he had something to say and he definitely wasn't a fan of small talk. His wife, Viviane, and him were the closest things to grandparents that I had.

"Thank you, as always Mr. Cliff," I tell him. "I have someone I'd like to you to meet…" I hear the crunch of gravel as Steve steps up and stands beside me. "This is my boyfriend, Steve Rog-"

" _Oh my gosh,_ " For the first time in the many years I had known Cliff he was slack-jawed and speechless. " _Captain_ Steve Rogers?"

"Yes sir," Steve, ever the gentleman, extends his hand towards the still slightly flabbergasted Cliff. "Nice to meet you."

The spell on Cliff finally breaks as he whips his hat off his head while reaching out to shake Steve's hand with more vigor than I thought possible for the eighty-six-year-old. "Sir, Captain…it is an honor to meet _you_ sir." After releasing his hand, Cliff turns to me. "If your old man knew you were dating Captain America…"

"I'm sorry Cliff," I say with a quiet laugh. "Maybe I should've included that in my email to Vivi." I turn to Steve, who was looking between me and Cliff slightly bewildered. "Cliff served in World War Two, the last two years of it."

"Really," Steve says, turning back to Cliff. With that, they were off. The conversation flowed and ebbed with the men swapping facts about which companies they were in and where they served. It turns out, Steve was the reason Cliff joined up in the first place.

"I saw your USO show in St. Paul," Cliff says, a wide smile on his face. "The next day, I got some phony papers and signed up."

Steve has a smile on his face too. "Well, I'm glad the show got some kind of message across to you."

It was heartwarming to see Cliff so star-struck, for lack of a better word. There was an undercurrent of admiration and respect in Cliff's tone as he spoke to Steve. It was like getting a glimpse of the younger Cliff. "I shouldn't keep you kids any longer," the old man says suddenly. "I thought you all were going to be here later tonight so I was just coming up to switch on some lights so you'd be able to see."

"No, you're not keeping us," I say, shaking my head. "But we definitely appreciate the gesture."

"Maybe you and your wife could come up for dinner one night?" Steve glances down at me briefly, making sure I was also okay with the offer. I smile and agree with him.

"I'll talk to Vivi about it, need to see when the grandkids are going to be here for the holidays. You know she'll probably be up for it though." Cliff says. That younger version of him was slowly disappearing and the Cliff I knew was reemerging. "Anyway, me and Vivi left a surprise for you kids in there. Little Christmas treat. You let us know if you need anything else."

Me and Steve both say our goodbyes to Cliff as he climbs back in his truck. "Ready to go in?" I say to Steve once the taillights of Cliff's truck disappear down the gravel road.

"Yeah, come on," he says, gently grabbing my hand into his. "It's starting to get dark out."

"Hopefully there's some wood in the garage," I say as we make our way up the small porch. The key easily turns in the lock and grants us access in to the house. "There's this really cool fireplace in the great room that we can-" I stop in my tracks once I flip the light switches in the dining room that connects with the great room. In the great room, stands a large- a larger than large- Christmas tree. It was bare, but it was still beautiful. The setting sun over the lake shining around it through the large floor to ceiling window. Growing up, Daniel and I had spent just about every Christmas here. Every year, I always asked (begged) him for a large Christmas tree like this. _It's just not feasible,_ the General would always reply. But now…here one was. "Oh…my…" I drop Steve's hand as I walk into the great room and closer to the tree. "We always just had a little seven-foot tree. Daniel would never get one any bigger. I always wanted a large tree like this to put in front of the window."

"Looks like there's some decorations here," I turn around to see Steve opening a box. "We'll have to see if there's a ladder around here somewhere."

I nod my head. "We can do all of that tomorrow. Make a day of it." That was one of the stipulations of this trip. No plans…just take it day by day. We planned on staying through Christmas and heading back to New York for New Year's Eve. So we'd be at the lake around two weeks total. "Want me to give you a tour?" Steve nods his head as I start walking him through the layout of the house. The main floor was an open layout with a dining room, kitchen, and the great room that all flowed into one another. Two decks flanked the great room, one from the great room, the other from the master suit that occupied the far side of the main floor. The second floor was home to the room I always slept in along with a bathroom and a loft area that overlooked the great room. The basement held another family room with a bar, storage room, two bedrooms, and Daniel's office, or as I referred to it, the "War Room". The basement also opened out to the large patio with a stairwell that led towards the lake and dock.

"And it was just the two of you here?" Steve says once we make it back to the great room. We both pick up our bags and bring them into the master suite.

I nod my head. "It was." I tell him. I knew what he was thinking; the house was almost obnoxiously too large for just two people. All of our houses were like this though, so I never thought about it. "You want something for dinner?"

* * *

I feel his eyes on me as I put the last of our dishes from dinner in the dishwasher. "You'd think after being together for over three years…you'd just ask me something when you want to ask me something." When I turn around he has a little smirk on his face. "What do you want to ask me Steve?" I ask him, leaning against the granite counter top.

"It's nothing bad. I'm just not sure how to phrase it…" I nod my head as I straighten up again. Reaching behind him, he moves to the side slightly so I can grab the wine glass I had been reaching for. I grab the opened bottle in the fridge and pour myself (another, the first being at dinner) glass as Steve tries to phrase his question. "Why was it just the two of you…you and Daniel? He never married or anything…"

The aroma of the wine wafts into my nose when I let out a sigh into the glass as I take a sip. "Ah…now that is the million-dollar question." We both move into the great room and sit down on the couch; Steve lounging in the corner of the deep couch while I stretched my legs down it and leaned back against his chest. The fireplace was crackling, close enough we could feel the heat off of it, but not too close so that we were burning up. "I don't really know…strangely enough, Daniel never explained the inner workings of his mind to me." I chuckle a humorless laugh before taking another sip of wine and continuing. I had a feeling I knew why Steve was asking me this: why did just two people need, or have, all this property…this room? "I asked him one time, just a few months before he died, why he adopted me. I think he knew I didn't mean it maliciously; it was just something that was never brought up. He told me that he was in town, in Nashville where the orphanage I lived at was, on business. He said that he drove by the orphanage a few times and this nagging, his words, voice kept telling him to stop in. Finally, on the day before he was supposed to leave…he did, he stopped at the orphanage. As fate would have it, I was the one who answered the door." Steve's fingers were lazily tracing a pattern on my arm. After I sip the last of my wine, he takes my glass from me and sits it on the table behind the couch. I snuggle myself closer to him as he wraps his arms around me. "Anyway, he talked to the head of the orphanage for about half an hour and then came and talked to me. Asked me what I liked to do in school, what I liked to read…those sorts of things. The next morning the head of the orphanage was helping me pack my stuff and Daniel picked me up at lunch time. He told me that he could just tell I didn't belong there, at the orphanage; wanted to give me the best life I could have."

"Did he?" Steve asks quietly. I smile a little as I feel him kiss the top of my head. "Give you the best life you could have?"

"Yeah," I say, a little sadly. "Yeah, I think he did." I let out a sigh as I trace a circle on the back of Steve's hand that was resting on my shoulder. "It may have been more of a…military, for lack of a better word, upbringing than I would've had with my biological parents. But it was good."

"Do you remember anything about them?" he asks.

"A little." I shrug as I move on the couch so that I'm facing Steve. His face was pensive, as if he were taking all of this in for later use. "I remember my mom had dark red hair…her parents were Irish immigrants. Dad was a jokester. He was always telling some sort of knock-knock joke or talking in a silly voice. You know, kid stuff. But I just remember laughing all the time. My mom swears he told a joke right before she had me so I came out laughing." Steve and I both chuckle a little at the mental image the statement invokes. I shake my head before the memories can get to me too much. "Why are we just now talking about this? As I said earlier…we've been together over three years!"

"Too busy trying to keep the world from imploding on itself I guess," Steve says with a shrug. I laugh loudly as I fall back on the couch.


	19. Chapter 19

I slink down in the Adirondack chair as I hear the distant rumbling of Cliff's truck fading away. "Kids wear you down?" Steve says in a teasing tone as he joins me outside on the patio. I nod my head as my eyes shut. I vaguely hear the sound of Steve adding a log to the fire pit, the heat immediately rising and warming me in the frigid December air. Cliff, Viviane, and their children and grandchildren had joined us for Christmas Eve celebrations. _No use in you kids being on your own for the holidays,_ Viviane had quipped to me on the phone a few days ago. The young grandkids had immediately taken to Steve, practically dragging him out to play in the snow with them. Once it got dark out, everyone congregated inside, running between the main level and the basement. After dinner, a few gifts were exchanged and then Steve and Cliff regaled the group with, appropriate, stories of the War. Finally, near eleven o'clock, Cliff and Viviane corralled the group and they left.

"This had to be the most exhausting Christmas Eve…" I say, shaking my head and chuckling. "But I had fun."

Steve returns my smile as he sits in the chair next to me. "It was fun."

"I thought those kids were going to actually wear out Captain America," I say. I reach a hand out and Steve takes it and wraps his around it. I gaze at him as he peers at the fire. "What's on the Captain's mind?"

Steve draws in a slow deep breath as he keeps staring into the fire. His brow furrow as he lets out the breath he had drawn in. "I was just thinking…" I wait for him to continue while the silence fills the air around us. We release each other's hand as I turn in my chair to look at him.

"Gonna share what you're think-"

"Have you ever thought about having children?" My eyes widen a fraction as the question sets between us.

"I-" My tongue feels too thick for mouth. Where was this coming from? Had I ever thought about this? Had we ever talked about this? Sure, we had mentioned what our wedding would be like someday…but kids? "I…I don't really know…" Steve finally turns his head to look at me. His expression was blank, so there was nothing to read to guide me. "Have…have you ever thought about it?"

"I have…before…" Steve says. His eyes slowly move back to look at the fire. "Before I went down in the ice, of course I wanted a family…wife and kids. But now, with what I do…" It wasn't a _no,_ but he was like me…just unsure of the whole institution. "I saw you earlier, playing with the children and I just thought…I don't know, you were really good with them."

I nod my head. "There were a couple summers where Daniel shipped me off to summer camp to be a counselor. I really enjoyed it." Letting out a sigh, I push myself out of the chair and take the two short steps over to Steve. His arm automatically goes around my waist to pull me close as I sit down in his lap, draping my legs over his. "Look, Steve…" His blue eyes gaze up at me, unreadable. "First of all, this conversation has thrown me for a _major_ loop; so, excuse the flabbergastedness. Second, to answer your question…no, I've never given any thought to having kids. It's not that I don't or wouldn't want to…it's just not something that has ever crossed my mind." Steve ducks his head down, resting his cheek on my shoulder. Now, I could practically read the question on his face: _would you want to have kids with me?_ "I could see myself having kids though…with you." His head jerks up, eyes now full of a mixture of shock and amazement. "But you're right, what you do…it's…" The word hangs between us: it's dangerous. As a kid who lost her parents…the last thing I would ever want to do was explain the loss of a parent to my own kid. The atmosphere around us was thick with emotion. I lean down and plant my lips on Steve's. He reciprocates, a hand coming up to hold the back of my head. When we separate, I rest my forehead against his. "Besides," I clear my throat, a smile involuntarily making its way across my lips. "If we were to have kids, you'd have to marry me first…I'm kind of old-fashioned like that."

At the term, a large smile breaks across Steve's face. "You're old-fashioned?"

"Yeah, I am," I pick my head up and continue to smile at him as I run a hand through his hair, letting it come to rest on the back of his neck. "I mean…just look at my boyfriend."

Steve laughs loudly as he somehow pulls me closer. After a moment, he leans back in the chair, peering up at me. "Marry you first, huh?" I nod my head. "Who would I ask for permission from?"

I roll my eyes at him. "This isn't the- well, you know." I say, eliciting a smirk from Steve. "I don't know of anyone that actually asked for someone's hand in marriage."

"So there's no one I could ask for your hand from?" Steve says, still smirking at me.

"Well…I guess if you were desperate enough you could ask Tony," Steve shakes his head in amusement. "Or Fury…he's known me since I was young. Clint would probably say-"

Steve cuts me off by pressing his lips to mine and wrapping both of his arms tightly around me. I drape my arms over his shoulders, letting my body meld into his. Too soon though, he pulls away and slides out from underneath me. I'm left sitting in the chair on my own, in a stunning post-kiss daze. After a second, my head clears out and I see Steve sinking down in front of me on one knee. "Steve…what are you-"

"Rhiannon Áine Saggart," I stare at Steve in stunned silence as he reaches into his pocket of his pants and pulls out a ring. He holds the delicate silver ring between his thumb and forefinger, offering it towards me. I glance down at it, but take in every detail: the sparkling diamond sitting on the thin band, on either side were smaller stones, clustered and formed to look like small leaves. Steve would later tell me it was his mother's ring. "We have been through…hell and back together. But we've got through it together and I think we should be together, every day. Will you marry me?"

 _ **The End**_


End file.
